


The Fated Thieves

by Sea_Dragon_Jade



Category: DAKAICHI (Anime), Persona 5, Persona Series, 抱かれたい男1位に脅されています。 | Dakaretai Otoko Ichii ni Odosarete Imasu (Manga)
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Crossover, Cussing, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Gay Males, Implied Relationships, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Secret Identity, Secret Relationship, So Many Time Skips, You already know how the game goes, mention past lives, past mental abuse, protective friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:13:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24104980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sea_Dragon_Jade/pseuds/Sea_Dragon_Jade
Summary: (This is basically a fan story for P5R)Join us on the Jaden-Drake Etheren and Xander Auditore. Two young teenagers who had been transferred to Shujin Academy after terrible incident happen to them when they we're still back in their American school. They will have to learn how to cope with being in a school in Japan, while still maintaining their "duel" life style. They will come across a new team for them to join.Note: This is a crossover story yes. If you don't like it you don't have to read it. Also bother the prologue and chapter one a only edited a little bit. Since I didn't have an editor till now. For the pictures check out my Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/seadragonjade
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Original Male Character(s), Yoshizawa Kasumi/Original Male Character
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

_"RUN!!!" They ran as fast as they could. Running through the darken halls. They were the only 6 left from the fight that occurred with the distorted desire. The ones who are running for their lives at this moment. Not looking back as the palace fell into ruins. "Holy shit." The shortest boy breathes out while catching his breath. They were out of the palace back to where they started, treasure and all...but without their closest friend, who was the one to not make it out. Sacrificing himself, by their side. "*huff**huff* That was a close one...well for most of us." A humanlike bearded dragon spoke. This little guy was shaking pretty badly still from fear of what just occurred. "A close one...A CLOSE ONE WE JUST LOST A MEMBER OF US!!! THE HIDDEN ONES, YOU LITTLE-" the tallest boy with brown hair shouting at the little dragon but got cut off by the green hair leader. "Don't shout at Draco, Nate. He doesn't understand what just happened and he's also still shaking. So please knock it off." The boy who was a few inches taller than him with black hair spoke up as well. "Yeah if he were any other animal, that tail of his would be right between his legs quivering in fear." "He's right Nate you shouldn't be yelling at him." Said the second tallest boy, out of the whole group, with really dirty blond hair. "They're all right. You know what you need to stop being a dick to him." Said a dark blond female who is the same height as the shortest boy of the group. "Why not the little guy isn't human. Why are you guys defending it?" He said, starting to get a bit more angry. "How about we all stop bickering right now and let's calm down. Best not to kill each other cause of the death of a friend." The black haired boy said in hopes of calming down his friends who were at each other throats by now. "You know what I am done. You guys can do the rest of this shit on your own and leave me out of it." They all looked at him in shock. "That's basically telling your persona you want out...do you really want that." The group leader said with concern for both him and his person. "...Yeah...I guess I am…" he said and walked off. "...looks like it's just the five of us...until you three have to leave for Japan in a little over a week." Said the girl who is very much upset right now. "Yeah but hey let's try to make these last few moments we have with each other special in...his honour and set up his funeral." They all agreed as they left that spot, trying to spend the last few days with each other before the two boys, one with black hair and the other dyed green, with the bread dragon now in its animal form. To leave for Japan, leaving behind what they once called the hidden ones. Their group, full of people with different personas who were their good friends. Now on their way to find or form a new group to call their own, not knowing there was one to where they were going to live for now on, Tokyo Japan. Also not knowing that they were in for one hell of a ride with this group._


	2. Chapter 1:A new team for a new beginning

Note: So one of the characters has two nicknames which I use both of them. So if it annoys you, I am sorry but I’m using both because I want to and I feel like it's easier for me.

BEEP...BEEP…BEEP...BE-"*Groans* Fuck" The alarm is still ringing as the young boy tryed to find it. "Make it stop." Screech a bearded dragon who was in a little reptile tank with a heating lamp over it that was on. "What the hell do you think I'm doing, mate?" Said a green hair teen who was groaning at this point as he finally hit his BB-8 alarm clock. Upon doing this his roommate/ best friend walked in. "Raise and shine sleeping beauties." Said the black haired boy as he put on his glasses. "We don't want to be late on our first day." He walked off as he pulled up his school uniform shirt. "*groans* Yeah...yeah." The green haired boy replied as he got up out of bed and walked over to his closet to grab his school summer uniform. "Jaden, are you going to leave me here or what?" 

"Can you wait until I put on my uniform, Draco?" He asked him as he put on his pants. "No." The bearded dragon said as he watched the dark white boy put on his shirt. "Really...you can be a brat at times, you know that?" He said as he took him out of the tank. "I know." Draco said with a smile, well what looked like a smile. Jaden sighed as he did the rest of what he needed to do to get ready. He walked out with his book bag and the bearded dragon in it. "You sure about bringing him? What if the home room teacher gets a panic attack from seeing it?" The black haired boy asked looking at Draco. "I see your point mate, but what else can we do." Jaden starts up. "What if we have a mission at school and besides Xander he's going to be hidden in my desk anyways. So he'll be fine as long as he stays hidden." 

"Yeah, and when have I ever got out of his bag back at our old school?" Draco asked looking Xander in the eyes. "Fine but remember," He looks towards Jaden. "Keep him hidden. And” he points at Draco. "don't make any noise. It will be hard for us to pretend that we didn't hear anything." He tells them. "Alright Xan." Jaden said. "Weird, usually you're the one giving leader like orders." Draco said as he looked at Jaden. He just rolls his eyes at the creature as they head off to their new school, Shujin Academy. They get on to a subway to their new school. 

*time skip* 

They finally made it to Shujin. "Woah. This place is kinda big." Draco said. "Shh and stay down till lunch, mate." Jaden tells Draco as he pushes the dragons head gently down back in his bag. Both boys shook their heads as they walked into the building. They look around for a bit looking for the principle. When they found his office they went inside. The principle looked up from the papers he was looking at. "Ah, you two must be the new students. Come in and sit down." He said to both of them." As they both took a seat the principle started up again. "So you two must be Jaden-Drake Etheren and Xander Auditore, correct?" They both nodded without really saying a word to him. "Awfully quiet but I understand since it's both of your first day of Shujin Academy." He told them with a smile. Just then the door opened to reveal a girl in her summer school uniform walking in. "Ah, Ms. Niijima. You're just in time I was about to call you. Can you show Mr. Etheren and Mr. Auditore around the school and then take them both to their respected home rooms." He asked the girl. She nodded. "Of course. Please follow me, you two." They both got up and followed her out. "I'm Makoto Niijima and both of you are?" She asked them. "I'm Jaden-Drake Etheren, you can call me Jaden and or Drake, and this guy is Xander Auditore." Drake said to Makoto. "Well nice to meet you two. Well, let's get started."

They began to walk around and Makoto showed them the different classes. They were walking to the home room building when Jaden-Drake accidentally bumps into a tall black haired boy with messy hair and glass in his summer uniform. "S-sorry I didn't-" he began but got cut off by the boy. "It's fine. I should be the one to say sorry since I didn't see you." While talking to the boy, Draco popped his head out of Jaden's bag to see a black cat with blue eyes. They both stared into each other's eyes. Both sensing something familiar about one another while the humans carrying them walk away. "That boy had a cat in his bag but...something feels...strange about them.” Draco told Drake and Xander. “I can tell what you mean. That boy felt strange as well but I guess in a nice way.” Jaden said to them. “Agreed.” Xander said. After that Makoto walked them around some more then led them to their home room classes. First was Xander both him and Drake said their goodbyes. Then she leads him to his class. “If you have any questions you can always ask me.” she told him. He nodded and thanked her. He then walked into his room home and saw a young looking woman with a yellow shirt and blue jeans skirt and fluffy black short hair. 

“Oh, You must be our new student. I am your homeroom teacher Ms. Kawakami.” She said introducing herself to him. “Everyone calm down. This is our new student. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?” She looked at him with a force smile.  _ Um, is she okay?  _ Jaden thought to himself. He shakes his head a little bit. “Um, Yeah...Well My name is Jade-Drake Etheren I go by either Jaden or Drake, it doesn’t really matter. I love to draw and do artsy stuff. I, uh, also love Japanese animation. They're really good in my opinion. I also love reading manga. That should be it. I hope that we can be good friends.” He finished off with a small smile. “Alright, thank you for that. Go sit behind Akira Kurusu. Uh, Akira can you please stand so he knows where you sit.” Akira stood up as he nodded. Drake was a little surprised and kinda embarrassed as he saw who he was. The boy he had bumped into early when Makoto was showing him around. As he walked to his desk he gave the boy a small smile. Akira watches him the whole time as he sits down. He turns around when the teacher starts back teaching. As soon as he settled down in his seat he passed out due to the lack of sleep.

*time skip: lunch time*

As their last period before lunch ended, hungry students filed out of their classes and into the cafeteria to get their food or take out their lunches and sit down with their friends to talk. Drake slowly walked up to the cafeteria with a nervous expression since he hadn’t been in a school cafeteria in almost a year cause his old high school had an open lunch period. “Nervous much Drake?” said Xander walking up to him. “What? Oh, yeah.” They walked in and found a table away from a lot of the nosey students but close enough to people they’ll soon meet. As soon as they sat down at their seats and take out their lunches, Jaden asks them. “So do you think there is someone at this school that has a distorted desire?” “Probably, however it could be difficult for us to find one. We can’t just fiddle around the Matenav.” Xander explains to him. “That’s true” Draco sighs out while eating dumplings Jaden had made for him the previous night. Jaden thinks for a moment before he suddenly remembers something important. “Wait, I know who would have a distorted desire.” He states with a smile on his face. “You do?”Both Draco and Xander said in surprise. 

“YEAH. MY DICK BAG RELATIVE. JONATHAN BRADEMIRE!!!” He yells in a medium tone without realizing that, like perusal. What he didn’t know was that there was a group of people who heard this and their leader turned his head to see the green haired boy standing up looking happy...well what he could tell since he can only see the back of his head. Xander shakes his head trying to signal Drake that there are people watching him. He looks down and sees this then sits down in embarrassment. “Okay so now that we have the person we just need to find him. Thankfully I just know where he is.” Drake tells the other two. Nodding they go back to eating and go talking about their classes with Jaden earning a scowling from Xander for sleeping in his homeroom on their first day unaware that they were still being watched. 

*time skip after school*

The trio walked to a giant ancient looking museum. Upon entaining they all were very surprised by the inside. The inside held the most beautiful paintings, statues, and other artworks that have been kept by the man who, for over the years, that he has stolen from others and has profited. Jaden-Drake looked around and sighed.  _ I knew he wouldn’t put that painting up. I'm so dumb.  _ “What painting are you talking about? Is it a baby photo?” Xander asks, looking at him. Drake turned around and looked at him. “What? Oh, Kinda. It’s a family painting that he really did paint just when I was a baby for me as a gift for when I got older. My dad explained to me that he never gave it to us and that he found out that he was stealing others paintings and selling them.” He sighed out while looking at a painting of a knight. Xander then started to look around the room. “Are you using that eagle sense of yours again?” Drake asked him. “You always have a weird glance in your eyes and that mask of yours doesn’t help it.” Xander just glanced over at him. “I know but if it’s important to you then we got to find it.” he told him. “Alright, but we’ll get it back when we change his heart; come on, let’s get into the Metaverse.” The trio didn’t notice a group of six walking in, due to their conversation. Both groups say what they needed to get into the metaverse without noticing each other. The palace looked like an old medieval castle. It had paintings and statues of Jonathan and the people he once considered beloved everywhere. 

“Huh, I didn’t expect this.” Drake said. The three of them looked up to see a painting of him as a toddler dressed in princely attire. “I wonder if this is how he views you.” Xander said. “Yeah.” Draco agreed with him. “*sigh* Maybe.” Jaden saids. All of a sudden they hear voices coming from down the hallway. It didn’t sound like any of the mini bosses or the hinch men. “What the?” Draco said in confusion. The voices got closer and they got into their fighting positions just in case they were foes not friends. They got closer to reveal a group of five humans and one humanoid cat all in different matevese suits. Jaden and Xander look at each other before the group finally notices them. “Who-” Before Jaden can finish that the cat interrupted him. He looked at the boy with black messy hair. Which Jaden could tell it was like the boy he met early today and had that strange feeling with. The cat looked at him and asked. “Are these guys? Could they be friend or are they foe?” Looking up the group saw what the strange talking cat was talking about. Confused but a little bit scared Jaden puts his sword down on the ground then puts his hands up signaling his peace as he slowly rises from the ground. “Friends. Trust me.” Everyone just looked at him a bit confused. Getting out of his confused state Xander raises his hands as well. However, as a precaution the blades are concealed ready to attack.

Draco follows them by dropping his axe and raising his hands. But notices something odd about the black masked feline. “We’re not going to hurt you guys, We’re just here for someone’s heart to change it. That’s it.” Drake explains to them. “And how do we not know you're lying. You could be someone ready to destroy us or the distortion hinch men.” The girl that had a metal looking mask said to them. Drake gave them a WTF look. “...Okay first we don’t even know who you guys are. Second, why in the hell would we kill people that we barely just meet today mind you. Also how do you think we got in here without saying the requirements needed. I mean you can follow the person in but we didn’t really see you until now. And how do we know you aren’t going to do the same thing.” He said. “I...I don’t think they are..something about the blue eyed feline feels familiar.” Draco said to the two humans he knew. “You guys seem to be rather recognizable, Makoto Niijma. My vision is quite useful in identifying people.” Xander told them. “H-how in the effin’ hell?” The boy with spiky blond hair with a skull masked explained. “For someone who pretty vulgar I didn’t expect you not to say fuck. Ryuji Sakamoto.” Jaden said looking at Xander if that was correct. “He appears to be holding back his language.” Xander said looking at Jaden. “Like someone I should now.” “Hey! Anyways to answer your question, Him and I both got unique talents after we made contracts with our respected personas.” Jaden explains to the group. “That is quite interesting.” The bluenette boy with a japanese style fox mask. 

“Thank you.” Jaden said with a smile. They all looked at each other trying to see if the other group would run or fight. Realizing that the situation wasn’t going anywhere Draco thought of something. “Wait! I got an idea.” He said. Everyone looked at him. “What if we all worked together.” He told them. They all looked at each. The black haired boy nodded in agreement. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming from the hall where the trios back faces it. When they turned around they saw three huge bodyguards like knights coming towards them. The knights were wearing what looked like a bodyguard’s uniform but had a more knightley apprentice. Right behind them was a man who was wearing a grown and a kingly outfit. Right in front of him was a toddler who looked just like the painting. They stopped as soon as they saw them. “Who are you and what are you doing in my castel?” The king asked the group. The group looked at each other. Most likely due not expecting to meet the main guy that fast. The black masked feline spoked up. “We are the Phantom thieves, come to take your heart.” He points to the group of six. Draco grabs his axs and spins around. “And we are the mysterious ones, the ones once called the hidden ones, we are groupless now but we come here to steal your heart so we can change what you have become.” The humanoid bearded dragon said. 

The king took a good look at the three and sneered. “Weren’t you the group that was in America? What happened to the lot of ya?” he asked, having some idea what happened but not the full story. Drake looked at him with a serious expression on his face. “...That really ain’t any of you business. Just give us your treasure and we’ll be on our way.” he said in a serious tone. One that even surprised Xander. The poor nicely dressed boy from the painting looked very uncomfortable/ upset. He doesn’t seem to like the situation at all and is very scared. “Agreed it is none of your concern.” Xander said to the king. Drake could see the little toddler and he in a way understands how he feels. He used to be just like him. Love Jonathon without a care in the world till he found out he had stolen others’ works of art for himself and claimed it. He sighed to himself as he tries to regain himself before anyone sees. Unfortunately the black messy hair leader saw him and walked up to him. The boy can tell who he is just by the hair color. “Uh, Jaden-Drake are you alright? You don’t seem as calm just like you were a few moments ago. You seem more uncomfortable.” The boy said while putting a hand on the shorter boy’s shoulder and looked at him with a concerned look. “What? Oh, yeah Akira I’m fine. Just wish I didn’t have to deal with this right now since I just transferred here in all. Also like I already said you don’t have to call me by my full first name” He tells Akira. Wish more and more for the infiltration to end so they can do the rest the next day. 

Getting back to his zone Drake bent down and grabbed his sword. Swiftly pointing and the shadow regaining his serious expression. Surprised with his action the king chuckled. “I know who you are now. It should have been obvious from the start.” The Shadow began. “It’s nice seeing you again, Jaden-Drake. My little nephew.” He points at Jaden with a smug look on his face. Most of the whole group looked and the two. Jaden looked around trying to find a way out of the situation. While they were busy no one noticed that Xander was missing, He decided to sneak around trying to find the treasure. 

-To be continued-

Words: 3009

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a wants in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 2: Festivals and Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter two baby chapter 3 coming soon.

After they infiltrated the palace, the next day, the group went to _Leblanc_ after their school activities to talk about their next plan and to have a talk about the new teammates. As they walk over there Jaden-Drake gets a little nervous. _God I hate this. What if it’s going to be like what happened in America? What if one of them turns out to like that dick? Great, I'm overthinking things again._ Jaden thinks as he sighed. “Relax Jaden,” Xander states as he slaps his back. “I ensure, you that this will be like a new chapter in our lives. A fresh start.” He smiles down at his friend. “He’s right. It’s not going to be like it was last school year.” Draco tells him with his bearded dragon smile. “*sighs* You guys are right. I shouldn’t really worry.” Drake tells them with a smile. _It doesn't mean I won’t though._ The smile then falls again once they look away. He sighs again. He really didn’t like to think about what happened to him last year. It was a bad memory that he’d rather forget about. The bearded dragon saw this action. “What’s wrong Jaden?” Draco asks looking up at his saddened friend. “I’m fine, don't worry about it.” He tells him.

“You don’t look fine. Are you sure?” Akira asks, coming up from behind Drake. Drake looks up a little at him. Dreading being the shortest friend just like he did back in America. “Um, no I am not. Truthfully, I don’t really want to talk about it right now since we have a job to do and I don’t really want to worry people right now.” He tells the black-haired boy who nods at him. “Really that’s no excuse why you shouldn’t tell us why you are upset.” Morgana, from what Jaden understands, meows at him. Jaden sighs as he looks at the feline. “Trust me. I’ll tell you guys when I’m ready. Just...not right now.” He tells the black feline. He nods as they continue to walk to Leblanc. As soon as they entered Jaden, Xander, and Draco saw the barista. “Eh, you got some new friends here with ya?” the barista asked Akira as he entered the door. “Yes, they're also new to Japan so we decided to stop by to have a discussion.” He told the black-haired barista. He nods and gets back to work. “I wonder if they got any tea here.” Jaden mumbles to himself. “Alright, so what should we put on the calling card?” Ryuji asks as he sits down at a barstool. “Well how about this. ‘Sir Jonathan Brademire the prideful tyrant, we can see that you have stolen artworks of others just for your own sick and sinister desires. We shall steal your distorted desires and make you confess your sinful deeds. This will be done tomorrow, hope you have prepared yourself. From The Phantom Thieves of Hearts’.” Morgana said. “So how are we going to send this?” Xander states as he looks at the cat. 

“We usually have either Ryuji or Morgana go be the deliverer.” Ann tells him as she sits down at the booth. “But we’re going to have Morgana deliver it to him.” Makoto explains. “That’s a smart idea if I am honest.” Jaden-Drake states as he pulls out his art book and pencils to start drawing. “Alright, so all we need to do is make the calling card.” Yusuke states as he watched Drake drawing one of his OCs. “You are also fond of art?” Yusuke asks him. Drake looks up and smiles. “Yeah. I really like to do art since both of my parents loved doing it as a hobby and I got the talent passed down to me. I posted a lot of it online when I have the chance to.” He tells him. “Wow, I received the talent from my mother. Maybe we can draw together sometime. If you’d like, of course.” Yusuke said. Jaden looked at him and smiled. “Sure. I’d love that.” He writes something down and gives it to Yusuke. “Here is my number so that way we have a way to contact each other for that.” He smiles at the shorter green-haired male. “Thank you. I’ll be sure I will.” 

*Time Skip: Evening*

“Okay, so Xander what level is the treasure on?” Akira asks Xander looking straight at him. “Fifth floor in the northeast section of the castle.” He tells them, “Alright, so we go to the fifth floor and head in the direction Xander goes to get the treasure. If anyone or anything gets in our way we fight it. Like usual. Don’t forget the safe rooms. They could help us a lot.” Everyone nodded. “Hell yeah! Let’s get this done tomorrow.” Ryuji yelled out. “I hope we can get this done.” Makoto said. “Remember everyone, it’s all or nothing.” Morgana states looking at everyone. They all nodded in acknowledgment. “Right. *sighs* let's do this.” Jaden said as he looked at everyone. “Since this is our only shot let's make it count, all or nothing.” Akira looks at him and nods. “Alright everyone, see you tomorrow.” He said to every one of his teammates. “Make sure to get a good night's rest, you're going to need it.” Draco tells everyone as he jumps into Drake’s book bag. “Let's end this meeting.” Xander said. They all looked at him and nodded. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow then.” Makoto said to everyone as she got up and left. “Right, see you guys later.” Ryuji said as he waved to his friends as he walked out the door. “See you guys tomorrow then.” Ann said as she leaves like the other two. “I’ll see the rest of you then. Oh, and Drake.” Yusuke said. “Does this Saturday work out for you?” He looks at him. Drake looks at him and nods. “Yeah. It’s a perfect day.” He tells him with a sweet smile. “That’s wonderful. Well, I’ll see you later then.” He says as he walks away. Jaden-Drake smiles as he watches him walk away.  _ Well, he is really nice.  _ He thought as he started to pack the rest of his stuff. “Going on a little play date?” Xander said as he waited for his friend.

He looks at him and blushes a little. “Really mate, really?” Drake said as he eyed his friend. Once he walks up to him and Xander pinches his arm while saying. “Come on you know how much I like to tease you.” He chuckles as he rolls his eyes. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Akira-kun.” He tells Akira as he walks out with Xander right behind him. “Hmm, what nice kids those two seem to be.” Sojiro says as he watches them walk out. “Yeah...yeah they are.” He says as he walks behind the counter. 

*Time Skip: Next Day; After School *

“*yawns*” 

“I told you to get enough sleep last night.” Draco said, glaring at Drake who seemed to be very tired. He rolled his eyes as the bearded dragon was giving him a little lecture. He closed his eyes as he sighed out, “Alright, alright. Can you quiet down so that way no can know that your-OOF” He was cut off by bumping into someone...again. He fell on his butt. “Crap. Oh, crap sorry...oh, hi Akira.” He said looking up to see who he bumped into. Akira just chuckled as he helped him. “We gotta stop this literally bumping into each other right away before this becomes a habit.” He tells him. “Yeah, I agree.” He chuckles a little bit. “I also agree.” Draco states as he pokes his head out of the bag. “Oh, Akira, so nice to bump into you. How is Sojiro fairing alone?” Xander said as he walked up. Akira looks at him. “Oh, He’s doing just great.” While they were talking Jaden takes his hair out of its small ponytail and reaches in his bag to grab his brush. He begins to brush his hair seeing that he messed it up when he fell. “Hey Drake.” Ryuji said as he walked up to him. “What’s up?” He said as he put his hair back into a small ponytail. “Hey guys.” Ann said as she ran up to the group of boys.

“Hello Ann, how was your day?” Xander said looking at Ann. Ann looked at him and smiled. “My day has been going great, thanks for asking.” Ann said to Xander with a smile on her face. Jaden sighed as he smiled watching the interaction.  _ Maybe it will be different. _ He thought. “Oh, that reminds me. Jaden, since you have been in a downward situation, Shujin has a school therapist. So if you want you can go talk to him. He’s a really nice guy.” Ann said looking at him. “Yeah, he is. He’s also really helpful.” Ryuji added in. “Huh, I might have to go check him out tomorrow then.” He said, looking at the two of them. Akira nodded in agreement with that statement. “His name is Dr. Maruki. Since you're planning on seeing him tomorrow.” He told him. “What’s this about Jaden seeing someone tomorrow?” Makoto asked, walking up to the group. “We were telling Drake about Doc.” Ryuji told her. “Ehh, afterwards I might just go to the velvet room.” Xander said to the group. “Alright.” Drake said looking at Xander. Akira looked at him and nodded. “Sorry I’m late, I was talking to one of my teachers about my last project.” Yusuke said as he came up to the group. “Alright since all here let's head over to the Palace.” Morgana told the group. They all nodded and started heading towards the museum. 

Once the Phantom Thieves got inside the palace, they started their plan. “Alright everyone let's do this.” Draco said as he started running. As they ran, they bumped into one of the guards. “Shit.” Ryuji said as the guards transformed into their true forms. “PERSONA!! PHOENIX!!” Jaden shouted right away as a burst of blue fire came around him. The persona above him was human-like with fire like wings. “Woah.” “MARAGIDYNE!!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. Watching the guard burst out in flames. “Jack frost! Ice Age!” Xander yelled right after Jaden. Everyone watches the guard disappear. “Come on let’s go.” Xander said as he walked ahead with Jaden right behind him. Draco followed in tow behind them both. “Damn that was cool.” Ryuji said as he followed. Jaden chuckles as the rest of them follow. More guards showed up but the team took care of everyone that came and went into safe rooms a couple of times to level up and to regain lost sp. Then they went into the room where the treasure was. The room was massive; it looked like a throne room with statues of Jonathon’s family. “Wow, this is weird.” Ann said looking at one of the statues. “Tell me about it.” Makoto said. “I thought…” Jaden began as he looked. “I thought...I thought we weren’t important to him but I guess I was wrong.” 

“Let’s not worry about that now. Quickly find the treasure.” Morgana said. Everyone nodded. They all looked around the room trying to find it. “I wonder where Jonathan’s shadow is lurking?” Xander states while observing the area. “I don’t know but we better hurry.” Akira states. Yusuke looks around at the thrones. As he was observing them he looked up to find a painting. In the painting it showed a family with a child no older than four, a baby with blond hair growing on his head and a pair of very happy looking parents. “Do you think this would be the treasure?” He asked while looking at it. “It is the treasure if Mona starts going crazy for it.” Ryuji said as he looked at it. “Huh, let me see.” Morgana said as he walked up with the rest of the group. “MEOOW!” He said, causing Drake to jump a little out of surprise. “I think you scared uh, we never got your codenames did we.” Ann said looking at them. “Nope. We didn’t get yours as well.” Drake chuckled out as he rubbed the back of his head. Xander looked between Morgana and the painting. “Mona, that is not catnip.” He told him. “Uh-hum. Um, sorry about that.” Morgana said. “I lost my cool for a second.” 

“It’s fine since now we know that it is the treasure.” Jaden tells him with a calm expression. “Alright, let's grab it and get out of here.” Ryuji states. “Hey, Fox, give me a hand this shit’s kinda heavy.” He tells Yusuke as he tryings getting the painting. “Right.” He said as he went to help Ryuji. “Halt, stop right there thieves!” A booming voice came out. “Well, shit.” Ryuji said. “If you want the treasure you're gonna have to get through me.” As the group turned around to see the shadow turning into a giant bat-like creature. “Looks like he’s gone batty.” Xander jokes. “Pfft. Dude, really.” Jaden said with a chuckle. 

“Yes.” 

“Geez”

“Guys, focus!” Morgana told the two of them. “Mmmh, right.” They quickly got into their fighting positions. “PERSONA! LUNGE!” Ryuji shouted. Getting a good hit on him. “PERSONA! MABUFUDYNE!” Drake shouted. “EAGLE BEARER! SWORD DANCE!” Xander shouted out. Watch him freeze and get crushed by swords. “CARMEN! MARAGI!” Ann shouted out after the three boys. “JOHANNA! MAFREI!” Makoto shouted. “Wow, that’s one cool looking persona.” Drake said looking at her in awe. “Jaden, please pay attention to the battle. GOEMON! BUFU!” Yusuke shouted. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!” Shadow Jonathan yelled at the top of his lungs. “Oh, Skull watch out!” Morgana shouted at Ryuji. “Ah, shit.” He said as a giant gust of powerful wind hit him and he fell on to his butt. “EEE!” Drake screeched as a giant wing hit him. “My children, come and help your dear family member.” The shadow said. “Right away uncle.” A little boy came running in. The little boy looked like the one in the painting. 

“Ah little Damien, just in time.” 

“Oh, no this can’t be good.” Ann said right as Damien gives Jonothan an item that healed him up. “Oh, come on!” Ryuji said. “Looks like we just have to attack him more. JACK FROST, DIAMOND DUST!” Xander shouted. “Hmm, you guys do that.” Jaden said as he looked at the boy. “DRAGON MAZIODYNE!” He shouts as his attacks hit the little boy. “EE, sorry ‘little’ brother. Heh.” He said as the boy fell. “Um, was that a smart idea?” Akira said looking at him. “Well, he did heal him before, who says he won’t do it again? Also, be careful cause he might have another up his sleeve.” Drake explains to him. Akira nods at his explanation. “WHAT?! NO!” Shadow Jonothan yelled as the little disappear. “ARSENE, EIGA!” Akira shouted. “PERSONA, GARULA!” Morgana shouted. “Ugh, my youngest come on out!” “Hmph.” A little boy from the other day came running out. “There’s more!” Ryuji said. “EAGLE BEARER, MARAKUNDA!” Xander yelled. The wings from shadow Jonothan started flapping his huge bat-like wings and started to make a huge gust of wind. “What the hell?” Jaden said as he put an arm up to cover his eyes from getting dust in them. The rest of the group is doing something similar to that. “YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME THAT EASILY!” The shadow yelled as a gust of wind came hurtling towards the group. Knocking down a few of them. “Oh no, Scarcen, Fenikkusu was knocked down!” Draco shouted at Xander. “Huh, very interesting code-names.” Fox states looking at Scarcen. Scarcen pulls out his gun trying to dew Shadow Jonathan. “Who is up for an All-Out Attack?” He said, looking to the others. Joker, Panter, and Fox all nodded. All four of them pulled out their guns pointing at Jonathan’s shadow. As the all attack and Scarcen did the final blow and land he said. "Another feather to add to the collection.” 

“Gaah.” Shadow Jonathan grunted. He reverted to his regular form. “If I couldn’t deft you in that form then I’ll kill you in this one.” he shouted as he grabbed his sword. “Quick we got to get the other back on their feet.” Morgana shouted as he summoned Zorro. “PERSONA! MEDIA!” He shouted again, restoring a little bit of HP to his teammates. Scarcen braces himself. “PERSONA! RECARM!” Morgana shouted as Fenikkusu got up. “Thanks, mate.” He said as he got back into his fighting stance. “Your reign of pain ends here! PHOENIX! MAZIODYNE!” He shouted and pointed to Jonathan. Watching him get electrocuted. 

*Time Skip: After the Battle*

Once they won the battle, Shadow Jonathan cowered in fear in front of the group. “No, don’t kill me!” He said in fear. Fenikkusu just looked at him and anger appeared in his eyes. “Please, please. don’t ki-AAAA” he was interrupted by a blade being thrown at him and landed above his head. “I’ve seen how you people appear all defenseless at first and then strike your enemies down when their backs are turned.” Scarcen stated as his mask started glowing red. “That is not going to work.” He begins as he lifts Shadow Jonathan by his shirt, slamming him to the wall. “We are going to leave with your treasure. And you are going to confess all your sins to the public! Is that clear?!” He yelled in his face. Jonathan meekly nodded. “Good.” Scarcen said as he threw him down on the floor. As he looks up from the ground he locks eyes with Fenikkusu. “Drakey. Please help me. Please, I am so sorry.” He started as he crawled to him. “Please.” Fenikkusu looks down at him. “You think that after years and years of you lying to everyone. Lying to your family. Lying to my mom.” He begins to tear up looking away. “You left after threatening my family to take me away over 13 years ago. I just want to know. Why? WHY?!” Jonathan flinched after hearing that. “Let’s just get the treasure and then get out of here.” Panther said as she was looking at Fenikkusu. “Yeah...alright.” he agreed with a sigh. Draco ran and grabbed the painting. The palace started shaking and falling apart. “Let's get out of here. Mona, you know what to do.” Joker said as he looked at Morgana who just nodded. “R-right.” as he turned into his car form. “Come on Fenikkusu.” 

“Even though I am angry at you for what you did. Just so you know...I do forgive you for what you have done.” He said to him as he began to grab Draco and Scarcen. Getting into Mona with them. “Let’s go NOW!” He shouted as they drove away and out of there. “Are you okay or at least going to be, Drake?” Akira asked Jaden as he huffed. He looked at him and sighed. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.” He stated, while he turned to Akira and smiled. “Are you sure? You went pretty deep back there.” Ryuji said. “Yeah. It was almost kind of scary to watch.” Makoto chimed in. Drake looked at them and chuckled. “We have been in similar situations with our friends.” Xander said looking at the group. “Yeah, so it’s something you get used to. Also, it’s not like it’s going to be our last rodeo if you get what I mean. Also...I forgive him.” He said to them. Everyone in the group except for Xander looks at him in confusion. “What do you mean you forgive him?” Ann asks. “Didn’t he do your family wrong? He doesn’t deserve the forgiveness that you're giving him.” Yusuke said, looking at him. He looks at Fox. He just chuckles. “You guys don’t really know me that well since we just met, but I learned that there are things you just need to let go and forgive.” He tells them with a little smile. Draco titled his head in confusion. “Even after what he did to your family?” He asks as Jaden picks him and puts him in his bag. “Everyone deserves a second chance to redeem themselves. Even if they did you wrong in the past.” He said to him. “Well over time they deserve a chance unless they really did something wrong then it would be very tough for me.” He explained to the rest of them. “Think about it. What we are doing is essentially giving them a second chance by stealing their distorted desires and letting them start anew after they suffered the consequences for their sins.” Xander told them looking at them. “Even if you don’t forgive them we’re still giving them a second chance.” He continued. Drake nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Even though we have the memories of them doing wrong we can still have hope that they have changed.” He said looking at them with a smile on his face.

Everyone looked at the two speechless. They all stopped and agreed with what they were saying. “Anyways the painting is on the floor. Whoo, it looks like it did in the Palace.” Ryuji said as he looked down at it. “It does. Weird...” Ann said. “Huh, would you look at that. He really did still care about my family...even after all this time.” Jaden-Drake stated as he picked it up. “It’s a really beautiful painting. I wonder who painted it.” Yusuke said, looking at it. “Well, hard to believe but, Jonathan painted it himself.” Drake said looking at him. “Really? I didn’t think he was able to be a good painter.” Morgana said. “Well, he is, it's just that the fame went to his head. Anyways we’ll see all of you tomorrow. Xander and I gotta get going. Also, I need to give this back to my family.” said Drake as he was holding up the painting. “Wait, you’re not going to-oof” Ryuji got cut off by Akira shoving his elbow to his side. “Let us know how your family is going to react to it.” Akira told Drake as he adjusted his glasses. “Right. Well, bye.” He said with a little blush on his face as Xander and him walked away with Draco in his bag. 

Xander smirks as he pokes Drake. “Seems like someone else’s heart was stolen today.” He stated. “Sh-shut up, mate.” He states as he pushes him away. “It’s not like that. I mean we just met. I can’t have a crush on him right away.” He blushed really red. “Do you think he is of the Lovers Arcana?” Xander continues to tease him. “What the hell man?!” Jaden whisper-yelled at him. Xander chuckles at his blushing friend. “Ugh, I hate you sometimes you know that.” He glares at him. “I know.” “Will you stop teasing him for once Xander? You can tell he is redder than a tomato.” Draco tells him. “All right, all right I’ll stop. However, it applies to you two as well.” Xander tells them as he walks a little bit ahead of them. “Fine.” Jaden sighs out as he follows him. “Hey, it’s not like I tease you guys!” Draco hissed out. The boys laughed out at Draco’s complaint. 

*Time Skip: At school* 

“Mr. Kurusu, stop daydreaming when you are in my class!” Yelled a male teacher as he threw a piece of chalk at him. Akira dodged the piece of chalk and it ended up hitting a sleeping Drake against the head. “Huh, Ow.” Drake states as he wakes up and rubs his head. “Crap.” The teacher said as the students whispered about what Jaden was going to do. He just looked around in confusion. Looking for what hit his head. “Are you okay?” The teacher asked. “Um, yeah. Does anyone know what hit my head?” He answered the teacher. Everyone just started to snicker at the situation. Jaden fixes his seating position and starts looking down trying to find it as the teacher goes back to teaching. Once he found the chalk he got very confused. “Who threw a piece of chalk and why?” He whispered. “Oh, well.” He thought after not caring for an answer at that moment and time. A little while later class ended and Jaden grabbed his bag with Draco in it. “Hey, Akira do you know where Dr. Maruki is?” He asked him while catching up to him. “Hmm. Oh, Yeah. I can take you to him if you like.” Akira told him. “Sure. I don’t mind.” He said flashing a bright smile.  _ C-Cute. _ Akira thought. “Hmm, Akira you good?” Drake asked him, looking a bit concerned. “Um, what yeah no I’m fine, come on let’s go.” They began their journey to the nurse’s office. They chatted about their lives and the Phantom Thieves. “Well, I’ll chat with you later then.” Akira told him as they were right in front of the nurse’s office. “Yeah. You too, mate.” He waved to him as he walked off. Drake sighed then knocked on the door. “Ah, yes come in!” He heard a young-sounding male call out from the other side. He opened that door and walked in to be greeted by a brown-haired young man with black glasses. “Oh hi, you must be one of our new students. Jaden-Drake, I’m guessing?” Dr. Maruki said as he walked over and bowed. “Um, yeah. And you must be Dr. Maruki. I heard a lot about you from a few of my friends.” He said bowing a little bit. “Go ahead and take a seat.” He motioned to the chairs. As Drake sat down the messy-haired doctor asked. “Would you like some tea?” The green-haired boy nodded at the question. As the doctor got him some tea and himself an apple juice the teen boy looked around the room. 

“Here you go. Do you also want some snacks?”

“Um, no thank you.”

“Alright, so what brings you here?” Dr. Maruki asks while he hands Jaden-Drake his tea and sits down on the couch right next to him. “Well. I just have a lot of stuff on my mind.” Drake began. “Really, like what?” He asks. “Well, since I just transferred here with my friend and a lot of problems that happened last year just came into my mind. It hasn’t really affected me in my school work thankfully. It’s just the fact that it’s hard for me to fully trust people because of last year. *sighs* Though, I’m not going to let my past affect me from making friends though.” He explained to Maruki. Maruki nodded as he listened to the green-haired teen. “May I ask you what happened last year?” Dr. Maruki asked. “Um, well. Basically, there was a kid I met last year that joined my friend group. We all thought he was a good guy but he ended up tricking us and we didn’t notice it but the people around us did. He tricked a few of my friends into kicking me out of the group.” Jaden stated as he rubs his sides. “I felt more...happy when I left the group. It was even shown when I was talking to my family. Turns out he affected my attitude itself. I got better friends after that and I learned my lesson. I thought about this from time to time, but I really wouldn’t want anything to be changed. Cause if that situation didn’t happen then I wouldn’t have the friends I do now and I wouldn’t be able to see who was my true friend and not. Well, I had a lot more situations in my life that taught me that same lesson. Like one of my early guy friends, from when I was 12, sexually harassing me and asking me to have sex with him. And friends turning on me and abusing me emotionally for a few years in elementary school.” Drake finished it up. He looked at the doctor who seemed a bit surprised. “Well, that’s a lot that has happened to you in your life. And you wouldn’t want to change a thing even if you had a chance?” 

Jaden shook his head. “No, because I believe everything happens for a reason. And I believe I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t go through my trials in my early childhood, fighting my next trials in life. Since life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. There’s always going something that life will throw at you.” He explained. He nodded right after that explanation. “Hmm, you do seem like that type. Very cheerful too. I bet you will make lots of friends here too.” He chuckled at the comment. “I hope I will. Well, it was nice meeting you Doc. Thank you for listening.” He said as he got up and bowed. “Hmm, your welcome. It was nice meeting you as well. Come again if you have any other problems or you just want to talk, my door is always opened.” The doctor tells him with a soft smile. Drake nods and walks out the door while waving to Doc. “Wow, you kinda went deep back there.” Draco said as he pokes his head out of the bag. “Deep in what?” a voice came from behind them. Xander comes up from behind while adjusting to his glasses. He looks at the two with a bit of a confused expression. “I kinda went too deep when talking to Dr. Maruki. I basically gave him a short version of the story of my life.” Drake explained while rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, it is good to have an adult who can vent out your problems too.” Xander stated as they walked off. “Well, that is true.” Drake signed out, walking next to the taller male. “The thing is I already do. It’s just that he’s always busy so...I guess this is one way to vent if I can’t vent to him.” he continued. 

Xander gave him a confused look. “What do you mean? Do you have someone that lives in Japan that you can vent to?” He asked looking at his friend. Jaden-Drake automatically stopped in his tracks. “Shit.” he whispered to himself. “You know that you can’t lie to me. I can differentiate truth from lie. I can see emotions. Feel pressure and hear expressions. My sixth sense is impossible to hide something from it.” The dark tan boy turned to his friend relaying the true powers he had received from his persona. Drake sighed looking at his friend. “I know that I can’t lie and the same goes to you buddy. I can sense when people are lying. Just more on an animalistic level though. *sighs* He’s a dude I know that had come to visit in America when he was a kid and my family got to know his family and in turn we visited him here in Japan. And he is always busy nowadays.  _ Not like he wasn’t busy before when we were kids _ .” He mumbled the last part to himself. “Look, one of these days I’ll introduce you guys. Not right now.” He finished off with a sigh. He started rubbing his neck again. “Ok then. Just be glad that I am unable to pry into a person’s memory.” Xander told him. Drake looked at him and laughed. “You're making it sound like he is a bad person when he is like my older brother. Bawha. Dude trust me. I’ll get you guys to meet him. But like I said he is always busy. You can just ask me what he does mate.” he told his friend as they began walking again to meet up with the others to hang out. “I know, you seemed rather joyous whenever you mentioned him. It’s hard to notice but it is there.” He chuckled as his friend laughed. They both just laughed as they walked on. 

*The news on the television*

A man with short, black hair walked up to the podium in front of all the news reporters and his audience with cameras showing live footage for everyone at home to see. He is shown to be breathing in and out as everyone wonders what he is going to say. “Everyone, I have wrong you all for a very long time. I am not the artist you think I am. I have taken others' work for my own self-gain. I have even stolen my own art pieces from people that I have given said pieces to.” He sighs as he looks at everyone with teary eyes. “I have also hurt those that were closest to me. By letting someone in and letting them tear into me and being rude and hurting the people I love in the process. To those that I hurt, stolen from, and never seen in years because of my actions... I am sorry *Sobs* I am so so very sorry. There are no words to describe how sorry I am.” He sobbed out. He kept on crying on camera. Everyone watched as he kept on crying. Some were angry while others felt bad for this man. “I let my pride overshadow me. I stole others’ work so my work was the only one people would see and I would brag how good it was. So after this, I will make this right by giving the artworks back. From those I have stolen, to those I have taken from. I have already given back a painting that belonged to my family. *sniff* I hope that you all can forgive me one day. And to those that I love...I hope that you can come and visit me so we can talk and have a spot of tea or just have something to eat. Thank you.” Just like that, as soon as he finished his speech the reports, just like a swarm of wasps, started asking him questions. He ignored them as he walked away from his podium. 

*At Leblanc*

“Damn, I didn’t expect him to be crying in front of the cameras.” The spiky-haired blonde said while watching the small TV on the wall. The Phantom Thieves were all at Leblanc’s hanging out for the day while the TV was on. “Once a person’s distorted desires are taken away they will start to confess their sins since they realize how bad they are. The worse, or the more sins they made, the more burdened the person feels.” Xander explained to them. “No, I’m fine...yes...bro trust me...yes I am watching it...no I didn’t threaten him...let’s just say I am apart of a new team...yeah...love you too...yes I’ll let you know if the school does anything stupid...yeah talk to you later to...bye bro.” The green-haired teen talks on the phone in the background of the others. “We, understand that bit...but it’s strange just watching it,” The blue-haired teen stated. He sighed then looked at Xander. ”I’ve been meaning to ask this, but how long have you two been doing this? Since you two know so much about this stuff and seem to be very knowledgeable in this sort of thing.” Yusuke asks while looking between the two as Drake hangs up his phone. Drake came over to the others and both of them looked at each other. The multicolor-eyed teen rubbed the back of his neck. “I think the 18th of July marks 10 months since we had gotten our Personas and started this journey.” Xander stated. “Yeah, we’ve been doing this for a while so, if you guys have any questions you can ask us.” Jaden told them with a smile. Draco nodded as he tried to bite Morgana’s tail. “Yep. I also got a lot of knowledge about a lot of situations.” Draco stated as he was still trying. “That reminds me, have you gotten any of your memories back since we’ve been here?” Jaden asked, looking at the bearded dragon, moving the feline's tail in the process. The dragon glared at him once he said that. “Bits and pieces but nothing I can make out.” He sighed out. “Huh, you don’t have all your memories either. I guess I am not the only one.” Morgana said looking at Draco with a smile. Draco’s eyes widened as he looked at the blacked-haired feline. “You lost your memories too?” he asked with his pure black eyes that were full of life. “Wow, you guys lost both your memories...you know what, you guys could most likely be brothers.” Jaden said as he finally sat down. “How can a cat and a lizard both be related when they're not a part of the same category of genetic species.” Yusuke said looking between the two creatures. “Well, they're unlike the creatures that they are based on. I mean, they can eat normal human food without getting sick, so there could be a chance.” Drake said as he petted both creatures. 

They all nodded in understanding. “Oh wait, Xander, don't forget that we have to get job applications. And don’t you say the shadows in the Metaverse can give us enough yen! We both know that’s not true. So please get my computer out while I go wash my hands.” Jaden-Drake told Xander as he walked to the bathroom. “Ok, how about that beef bowl shop?” Xander asks Drake as he comes back. “Are they hiring for two people? Cause we don’t have to do the same thing. I mean as long as it’s not you know what. I’m cool with it.” Jaden tells him. “Well, they said that they need as much help as they can get, meaning that both of us could work there.” Xander told his green-haired friend. As the two teens talked about their job hunting, they didn’t notice Akira and Sojiro listening in on their conversation. Akira looked at Sojiro with a knowing look and Sojiro nods. “Hey, if you boys want, I can have one of you work here. It’s if you want of course.” The older man said to the two. Both boys looked at each other. “I mean if you're okay with it. Then sure I guess that is fine.” Jaden said looking at him with a smile. “Sure, Jaden would LOVE to work with you and Akira.” Xander stated with a little smirk on his face. Jaden’s face turned bright red after he heard that statement. “Well, I guess that settles it then. You’ll start tomorrow. Akira will teach you the basics.” The older male with glasses told Jaden as he smiled at him. The green-haired teen nodded in agreement while still blushing red. Everyone chuckled a little as Jaden started to calm himself down.

*Time Skip: July 17 Sunday*

Jaden-Drake groaned as he walked with the three other boys and two creatures to a festival Ryuji had been talking about for a few days now. It was really hot and Drake was sweating from wearing a black jacket and light blue jean pants.  _ I should have stayed home. Or agreed to work with Sojiro today.  _ He thought as they got there. He really didn’t like the heat but learned how to get used to it because he grew up in California, both central and southern. Once they got there, the shortest boy heard the blond complain. “It’s so hot.” He stated. “It’s as if we’ve walked around in an enormous sauna.” Jaden rolled his eyes at Yusuke. “Mate, you shouldn’t be wearing dark colors then. It makes it worse since the dark colors absorb the heat.” Jaden told Yusuke, who was wearing dark-colored clothes. “I have experienced walking kilometers through deserts, this is nothing.” Xander told them with a bit of pride in his voice. “And I grew up in the hottest parts of California and trained in hot weather. Still learned wearing dark clothes was/is a very terrible idea.” Jaden explained. “Whose bright idea was it to come here again?” Ryuji stated as he turned to his friends. “Yours.” Morgana stated as he popped out of the bag. While the boys were bickering a bit, a female news reporter was recording the festival. “And just look at that crowd. Smiling faces everywhere you look.” She exclaimed. “Huh, didn’t really expect the news team to be here.” The multicolor-eyed boy said looking over to where he heard the voice. “With that, let’s move right into asking some of the visitors here for their comments.” She finished off. “A TV crew, hm?” Yusuke stated. “I don’t really like the sound of it.” Jaden stated. “We better not stand out then.” Akira stated. “Hmm, I agree.” Drake with his friend. “We should grab our kebabs and get outta here.” Ryuji said with a smile. “Ah, let’s interview those five.” The female reporter said gesturing to the group. “Is she talking about us?” Yusuke asked. “I don’t know but I really don’t like the sound of it if she is.” Draco said hiding in Jaden’s bag still. “What the-” Ryuji exclaimed. “What do we do, Akira?” Morgana asked the messy-haired teen. “Let’s just stay calm.” He told them. “Right.” 

“Good point. We’ll look even more suspicious if we panic now.” Yusuke said looking at his leader. “They got us.” Morgana said in a nervous tone. “Oh, no.” Draco said as he ducks back into the bag. “Aw, hell...okay, I’m gonna start making some real cringey comments so they can't use any of the footage.” Ryuji told them. Jaden facepalm and shook his head. “Idiot.” He mumbled under his breath. Akira chuckled at his friend's comment. “Wait, where did Xander go?” Xander was still standing right next to them however he was hiding under the Shadow of Nyx whilst silently laughing at them. “Dang it, is he using that Shadow-thing again?” Jaden stated as he looked around. “Hello! It sure is hot today, huh?” The lady said, looking at Ryuji. “Yeah, for sure!” He stated. “And if it’s this hot in July, can you imagine just how insane the weather’s gonna be in December?” “Ah, anyway...since you’re here for the festival, does that mean you and your friends there are meat lovers?” She asked him. “Uh...I’d say that we’re really lovers of fruit! Oh, and sweets! Sweets are just to DIE for!” He told her. The lady looked at him and then started to chuckle nervously. “Well, ah...thank you very much for your time!” She said to him. As soon as she walked away Ryuji relaxed. “Phew, that was too close.” “That was truly cringe-worthy, but are you certain that they won’t air any of it?” Yusuke said, looking to his blind friend. “That wasn’t that bad. You should see the stuff back in America.” Drake told Yusuke. “I’m pretty sure she thought that was a broadcast disaster. We oughta be okay.” Ryuji answered his blue-haired friend's question. “If you say so, mate.” 

“More important than that, though; it’s time to get some MEAT!” Morgana purred out. “Oh, right! My kebab!” Ryuji said. “Can I just have some tiny pieces of whatever you're gonna eat, Drake?” The bearded dragon said, popping his head out. “Yeah.” After the group got in line they got their food. “The lines for the food stalls were even more insane than the heat!” Ryuji whined out. “Standing around in this sweltering heat was rather trying.” Yusuke sighed out. “If you think that's bad, how about standing in line at Disneyland. That could be way worse. And trust me I would know.” Jaden told the two of them. “And almost all the good stuff was already sold out.” Ryuji sighed out. “I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I’m starting to get light-headed…” Morgana said. “Geez. Even though I didn’t eat for a different reason and I ain’t getting light-headed...well then again.” Jaden said. “Even still, an occasion like this seems to make everything taste delicious.” Yusuke said with a small smile. “That’s because the food is cooked here and not at a fast food place.” Jaden said with a smile. “I go to a lot of places like this with my dad or older brother. They're always so good.” Jaden stated while drooling. Xander nodded. “Yeah, this is good food.” He smiled out. Akira sighs. “I really wanted a kebab.” He said, a little disappointed. “B-But look, Akira-at least we have shaved ice.” Morgana told him. “You can have some of mine. I don’t really mind since I’m not a big kebab person and only really wanted to try it.” Jaden said holding his kebab up to Akira. “Really? Right, if you're giving me some of your food you can have some of my shaved ice. If you want some.” He said to the shorter male. “It’s fine, mate. You don’t have to give me some. Trust me on that much.” Jaden replied with a smile. “Welp, we came all the way out here, so we might as well go check that thing out.” Ryuji mentioned to his friends. “What thing?” Yusuke questioned. “I heard they’re building some kinda huge-ass stadium or somethin’ nearby. Wait, was that what it was?” Ryuji questioned himself at the end. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, do you?” Morgana asked him. “Oh, I heard that the last time I was talking to my older brother. He believes it is a stadium.” Drake stated as he was being handed Akira’s snow cone by Akira himself. “A stadium…” “Oh yeah, I kinda forgot about that.” Xander mutters out. “Well, such buildings often have intriguing architecture; I’d love to see it for personal reference.” Yusuke stated. “Yeah? Let’s go then!” Ryuji said to the group. 

They got to the construction area only to see that they barely started working on it. “Oh c’mon, that’s it? They barely even started!” Ryuji exclaimed. “We seem to be premature spectators.” Yusuke stated. Drake looked at it. “Huh, I thought they started a week ago.” He said looking up at it. “I guess this is what people call ‘jumpin’ the gum.’” Ryuji said. “Jumping the gun.” Mona corrected. “Say, isn’t that Kasumi?” Xander said, pointing to a very saddened girl with red hair that was in a ponytail by a ribbon. “Hey, I believe that is. Why does she look so sad?” Jaden said looking at her. “Well, anyway; hey Ryuji, I’m up to grab a bite with ya.” He said looking at the disappointed blond. “What really?” He stated in surprise. “Yeah, I’m kinda still hungry since I ate very little.” The teen stated to him. “Well alright. C’mon, let's go then Jaden-Drake.” Ryuji said, walking off. “Well, I’ll leave you two to go talk to Kasumi to see if she's okay.” Jaden said following the blond with Draco still in his bag who seemed rather happy as well. Xander and Akira walked up the teen girl. “Hello, Kasumi-san.” Xander said. Kasumi jumped a bit in surprise. “Auditore-Senpai, Kurusu-Senpai?!” She said to both of them. “What a pleasant surprise.” Akira said to the red-haired girl. “It is also a pleasant surprise to see you here as well,” Xander states while looking at Kasumi. “Y-Yes. Did you two come to see the stadium too?” She asked them with a fallen expression. “We decided to visit the stadium out of curiosity,” Xander explained to her. “Same here, I needed to give myself a pep talk.” She told the two boys. “Is something wrong?” Akira asks. “Sometimes, when things get me down I come here.” She states with a small smile. “Although that doesn’t really answer your question does it?” She says after thinking for a bit. “I know this may get in the way of your guys' plans, but would you two be willing to join me for lunch?” She asked with her eyes looking rather red and puffy. “Sure, we don’t mind.” Akira said, thinking it was best to accompany her. 

*Time Skip: Dinner*

“Phew! That was delicious.” She said happily, stretching out her arms “What did I just witness?” Akira said with a worried look. “I always like this after a meeting.” Kasumi said with a little smile. “In all honesty, I’d like to keep going...but any more will end up harming a performance.” “Next time let’s go to an all-you-can-eat buffet,” Xander chuckled out. “So the meet was done?” Akira askes. “Simply put? It was a disaster.” Kasumi sighed out. “I’ve been feeling like I’m getting back into the natural flow of things, thanks to you two.” Kasumi said to both of them, still being a little sad. “Smile my dear! You know you’re never fully dressed without one!” Xander smirked out. Thinking no one would get where that’s from. Kasumi looked at the tan-skinned boy and then laughed a little. Her smile had fallen when she stated. “But when the moment of truth arrived, my body still wouldn’t move the way that I wanted it to…” “Is it more of a mental thing?” Akira asked her. “I think… that’s a big factor” She told them. “Something similar happened to me in middle school-but back then, I had someone by my side that kept me going...” “Who do you mean?” Akira asked her out of curiosity. “...” Kasumi sighed. “I… have a younger sister.” Kasumi told the two boys “We promised each other that we’d win international gymnastics together...competitions.” She explained. “But this spring, she... died, in an accident” Her expression was not the best at this moment and time. “I promised her we’d take the gold for our routines across the world. But I can’t stop worrying about my lack of improvement lately. I’ve really been throwing myself into practice, but I wonder if even that won’t be enough...” She explained to them. “It’s not over yet.” Akira told her. “Agreed.” Xander nodded. “After all, if you feel like you hit rock bottom, just know this. There is only one way to go and that is up.” He said confidently. “If you ever need help with anything my friends and I would be willing to help out during your time of need.” Xander finished off with a small smile. “Thank you. And you're right, Kursu-Senpai, I can’t let it end like this! You guys just keep on rescuing me, don’t you?” Kasumi stated as she smiled. “Okay! No more brooding! There are still more meets left this year. I’m going to start from scratch and train as hard as I can.” “That’s the spirit,” Xander told her while Akira nodded. “Thank you guys so much for listening to all that! Now I feel like I’ve been recharged, mind, body, and spirit-” she cut herself off. “...Well, at least my mind and spirit are recharged! The best way to stave off hunger is with some vigorous activity! I’m going to jog home, take care!” She got up and walked away from the two boys. “After eating!? Talk about an iron stomach.” Xander said as he watched her walk off. 

*Time skip: Evening*

“Woo, I’m beat.” Jaden-Drake stats as he flops down on the couch. “Hey, dude how was the whole lunch thing with Yoshizawa?” He turned to his friend who was leaning out to the kitchen counter. “It went well, she just needed someone to cheer her up,” Xander said, looking at his friend. “Alright.” He sighed and turned on the T.V. then began to start laughing. “I knew it. See they should let me do it.” He shook his head as the news from earlier showed his blond friend. As soon as he was about to change the channel his phone chimed. Thinking it was the group he checked his phone. “Shite…” He said under his breath. “Glad that I used that stealth tactic.” The tanned boy said while looking at the T.V. “I’m glad I was in the bag.” Draco said as he sat on the couch right beside Jaden. “Hey, can both of you be quiet real quick, my brother wants to call me. Also, Xander, you saw the text Ryuji sent us? Glad I gave him my kabab still while I got to catch his shaved ice haha.” The green-haired teen stated as he got on his phone and started to dial his brother. “Hey...bro...what’s up?” Jaden started. “You saw it...What?...Oh yeah...I know I told them I could make it way worse than that….Yeah...Next time I’ll do that...Yeah love you too bye.” Jaden sighs as he hangs up. “Phew. I thought that was going to be way worse than that.” “How worse can you make it?” His friend asked him. “Oh, I was talking about the phone call. The news thing I would have just answered the questions in English but pretend I don’t understand what she is saying or just told her not to record us cause we didn’t want to be on TV.” The older teen explained. “Oh, that kind of method. I would have spoken in a language that I learned from the bleeding effect.” Xander stated. “Oh, I thought of something else at the time that is something you know I would do...or I could have spoken in Greek.” 

*Time Skip: July 17 Monday*

[Phone convo]

Ryuji: Tomorrow’s the fireworks festival! Let’s meet at Shibuya at 5!

Ann: Hey, Makoto. Are you going to wear a yukata?

Makoto: I’m planning on it.

Yusuke: Yukatas are a great part of the summer tradition... They truly heighten a woman’s beauty.

Yusuke: I think I will wear mine as well.

Xander: I made sure to bring one, I will also make sure that Jaden does as well.

Ryuji: You three got one…? How about you, Akira?

Akira: I don’t have a yukata.

Ann: Hey, I know! Why don’t you come without your glasses?

Makoto: What’s the point in that?

Ann: I dunno, you don’t get to see fireworks everyday, so it’d be sad just wearing normal clothes!

Ann: I was just thinking he might want to go for a change of pace.

Ryuji: That sounds great! You should totally come without glasses!

Ryuji: Welp, you guys better not be late tomorrow! 

“So can I wear a little bow tie since you guys are gonna wear your yukatas?” Draco asks as he watches both boys start trying to look for their clothes. The two looked at each other in confusion. “On your tail?” Xander questions. “No, around my neck like a human.” He said. “I don’t know if we have one your size mate.” Jaden stated as he looked through a box. “Aw, man.” He said. “Sorry little buddy.” They continued their search for their yukatas. “I wonder what Akira would look like in a yukata though...” The green haired teen mumbled while blushing. “Looks like love is in the air.” Xander stated as he watched his friend’s blush turn darker. “God, I hate you sometimes dude.” The older teen said looking at him. “I know. Anyways, let’s go check our closets?” “*sighs* Alright then.” 

*Time Skip: Daytime*

The boys finally found their yukatas and started to put them on. Drake was blushing a little bit as soon as he was done putting it on. The yukata he wore was mint green with a dragon design with a bird on it. “Maybe I should wear something underneath so that way I feel less exposed to the world. How about you Xan-man?” He asked his friend who was still putting on his. His yukata was white with a design of a silver-colored eagle with the eye of the eagle containing a blue flame in the iris. “You should always wear something underneath.” He replied as he finished trying it on. “True.” He paused for a moment. “Well unless it’s a quilt.” Xander looked at him with a confused look as he went off to his room. “Wait what?” he asked. “Ask my dad.” He heard him shout. When both boys were finished, with Draco in the bag, they went out the door and headed straight for Jaden’s car. “Alright. Okay so let’s head to Shibuya...forgot to ask you. Wanna take the car or do you want to take the train?” He asked, looking at his friend. “Train is faster.” Xander told him. “Right, let's go then”

Once they were on the train they were pushed together since the train was really crowded. “I hate this.” The shorter of the two sighed out. He really hated being in crowded areas sometimes. This time being one of them. “Now for today’s Train News. Today’s headlines are…’Fireworks Festival Tonight’, expect roads and transportation to be congested for the entire day. ‘Sudden Weather Changes: Imminent!’ Be careful of sudden shifts in climate from afternoon to night.” The train monitor announced. “Huh, so that means most of these people are going to the firework festival.” The green-haired teen stated. “Great.” The black-haired teen stated while sighing. 

*Time Skip: Evening*

The group of five boys were all standing around waiting for the girls to arrive. “Uuuugh, It’s so hooooot…” Ryuji groaned out. “I feel like I’m being baked.” Morgana whined. “I think it feels good. Since I was stuck inside the apartment for most of the day today.” Draco growled out. “Those girls are way too late.” Ryuji complained. “It must be taking time for them to put on the yukata.” Yusuke explained. “Or maybe it’s traffic. Since it is an event going on and a lot of the roads are blocked.” Drake explained to the blond. “Why aren’t you two wearing one?” Yusuke asks the boys in normal clothes. “I don’t got clothes like yukata. But man, you look way too normal in that.” Ryuji said while looking at Yusuke. “I have to agree.” The shorter male said “People often say that to me.” Yusuke said. “Well, then again, depending on the person I meet I would say the same.” Drake told them. Yusuke nods. “That makes a little bit of sense.” “Ah, by the way...the exams…” Ryuji mentioned. “I bet you got a big fat F on them.” Morgana joked. “Shuddup! We- We don’t know that yet.” He glared at the blue-eyed feline. “That was very rude to say Mona. Even by my joking standards.” Drake told the feline. “Wait until our grades come in.” Xander stated. “Really. Don’t make him even more stressed.” The multicolored-eyed teen stated. Right after Drake stated that, two young ladies came up to them. One was in a pink yukata and the other wore a black yukata. “Are you going to the fireworks festival?” The lady in the pink yukata asks them. “That’s right.” Yusuke answers. “Us too! Wanna go together?” The one in a black yukata asks while coming close to Drake. Drake backed away from her and went next to Akira. “Are we…getting hit on?” Ryuji said, stunned. “I would rather not get involved with this.” Xander stated while backing away a little. “C’mon, let’s go together.” The pink yukata lady suggested. “Do you happen to be a model? You look great in that yukata.” The one in the black said to Yusuke. “Is your friend in the green yukata shy or something?” She asked point to Drake who is currently hiding behind Akira. “He doesn’t trust new people that well.” Akira stated to the ladies. He goes back to looking at Ryuji. “Waitin’ around’s a pain, so can we just go with these chicks?” He asked. “No way.” Akira answered, shaking his head. “We’ll all apologize to the others later!” Ryuji smirked. “This is a dishonorable action, what would Ann and Makoto say to this?” Xander asked, looking at Ryuji. “Who cares?” He told him. “That’s enough! You’re disgracing your yukata. You should be more aware of your womanhood.” Yusuke told the ladies. They both looked at each other, then walked away. “That kinda was a bit mean there, mate.” Drake told Yusuke as he got out of his hidden position. “They were being disgraceful. What else can I say?” He asked. “How could you?!” Ryuji said with disbelief. “Why don’t you go after them then?” Ann said. Both her and Makoto walked up to the group. “So those are the kinds of girls you like, Ryuji.” Makoto said. Xander and Drake chuckled at that comment. “Uh, well… That’s…” Ryuji began but could think of anything to say. “...You know, Yusuke’s a pretty boy, but he is really missing out because of what he says.” Ann stated. “I guess, but he’s more likeable since he stays true to his ideals. Definitely more than somebody I know.” Makoto stated while eyeing Ryuji. “I have to agree with both of you on that. But then again we are high schoolers so we’re going to think differently now then when we’re adults.” Xander said with a little chuckle. “I heard that Ryuji’s pretty much failed his exams.” Morgana chimed in with a little smirk. “Oh?” Makoto looked at the black-furred feline. “Mona, you little-” Ryuji began but got cut off. “Hey, it’s gonna get crowded if we don’t get going.” Ann said. “Agreed.” Yusuke said. The group had begun walking away right when Ryuji started talking to the ladies from before. “But man, you both look amazin’ in yukata! Talk about Japanese beauty…” When he was done he opened his eyes just to see the group walk away. When he got to them Drake made a little remark. “Dude, don’t even try at this point.” “H-Hey!” 

Once they got to a convenient store, the show had already begun. “Oh… It started already…” Ann sighed out. “Ah!” Jaden heard some people say. “I see it.” Some lady shouted out as people looked up and saw huge fireworks lit up the sky. “Wooh.” People started cheering as the group was watching a few raindrops come down. “Oh, no.” Drake said in disappointment. “Why now…” Makoto said while Ann groaned. Draco jumped a little as soon as he heard thunder. The group got under the convenient store’s header roof to dry off. Jaden-Drake wasn’t really too pleased as they were drying off watching Ryuji, Akira, and Yusuke, who were right next to him, watch Ann lift up her yukata. So that she can get the water out of it. Xander, in the meanwhile, wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on. But as soon as Makoto pointed it out to Ann they quickly looked away. “Come on!” She said a little loud. “Looks like you need help…” Ryuji stated while still looking away. “Then why don’t you go and buy me a towel already then, huh?” She said as she grabbed Ryuji and shook him a bit. Drake looked at them and shook his head while Makoto sighed. Right before he could sit the two up the speaker stopped them both. “Due to the sudden change in weather, a heavy rain and flood warning has been issued nearby.” It spoke. “Since the festival cannot proceed in this weather, we truly apologize for canceling today’s fireworks show.” Right as the speaker was speaking this information the group watched a woman about their age with a few people standing by get into a black car. 

They soon went inside to get out of the rain even more. “Ack… We’re just trying to get outta the rain, but look how crowded it is…” Ryuji said. “I guess everyone had the same idea.” Ann sighed out. Drake sighed. “I knew we should have brought the car.” he stated, shaking his head. Makoto was still staring outside while the three of them had made their statements. “What’s up?” Ann asked her. “Mm, I think I just saw someone I know…” Makoto stated to the group. “You mean the girl in the black car?” The blond female asked. “Well, she’s got a ride...” Ryuji huffed out. “The rain seems relentless. Might be a while before it stops.” Xander said as he looked outside. “I have to agree with you on this one mate.” Jaden sighed out. The short male sighed out. “Time to show off your skills, Mona! We need you as a car!” Ryuji exclaimed to the cat. “It’s not possible in the real world.” Morgana shouted at him. “My feet hurt…it’s cold…the festival’s been canceled…this sucks.” Ann complained. “You know if my mom were here she would say ‘suck it up buttercup’. So is everyone else but you don’t hear them complain.’” Drake said at Ann's comment. “That’s a mean thing to say.” Makoto said, looking at him. “My mom is brutally honest.” He said looking back at her. “We made such a commotion with the public, and this is what we get? Laaame...” Ryuji said with a sad look on his face. “Aren’t heroes that lurk in the shadows boring?” He looked to Akira. “I like the shade.” Akira told him with a little smile. “What are you, moss?” Ryuji asked. Drake giggled at the conversation. “Well, it’s much better this way.” He giggled out. “Even Drake agrees with me.” Akira pointed out. “Whatever, you two are weird.” The blond sighed out. “I want to change the world with a loud bang, like a huge firework!” Ryuji complained. “...Then again, we aren’t gonna find anyone bigger than Kaneshiro that easily.” He continued on, looking disappointed. “We will just have to wait for another criminal to reveal themselves.” Xander told him, shaking his head a little. They all nodded at Xander’s comment. “The rain is letting up. Though it’s regrettable, we should go our separate ways for today.” Yusuke told the group as he was looking outside. “Yeah. Let’s go home.” Morgana said in agreement. 

Words: 10956

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may have seem speed up at times and I do say sorry for that.


	4. About the P5 Oc Story

Sooo It’s been a while since the last chapter was posted. Well that’s because my friend and I had stuff outside our lives that needed to be done and the fact that I wanted to have the whole Futaba’s Palace arc in one chapter. So chapter 3 will be a long ways away. Xander and I thank you guys so much for your patience while this chapter is being written and the pictures are being illustrated. This will be a while so the chapter while be out ever this next week or the week after that. We thank you again.


	5. Chapter 3: A Shadow’s tomb Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this Chapter come in so very late guys. I got distracted by other things and kept putting it off. So again so sorry about that. I will be posted chapter 4 but not for a a bit of time but it would be as long as this wait was hopefully.

*Next Day: July 19 Tuesday* 

*Beep* *Beep**Beep**Be-* The alarm got cut off by the young Jaden-Drake Etheren hitting the snooze button. He groaned as he got up. “God! I hate getting up for school!” He groaned out as he got up and went to his closet. “Too bad you gotta.” Draco the bearded dragon said as he crawled out from bedding that was right near the tank. 

Drake sighed as he turned his head to the smirking dragon. “Don’t give me that look or I leave you behind.” “Wait, no!” The dragon was a little bit shocked when the green-haired teen said that. “C’mon already sleepy head. It is best for us to not miss the subway.” Xander said as he pokes his head in his friend's bedroom right when Drake was putting on his uniform. “You do know we can take my car right. Traffic ain’t that bad during this time.” Drake told his friend as he turned to face him. “The early bird catches the worm.” He shrugs as he walks away. “That really doesn’t answer me.”

After Jaden got fully dressed and got his shoes on he grabs his bag with Draco in it and heads out the door with Xander. “You do know I’m not a crazy driver like Tanner and Randy. I was the only one who was allowed to drive when Draco is in his jeep form. Sooner or later we’re going to drive in my car.” The shorter teen states as they head to the subway. Xander just shook his head as they got in the crowded subway and headed for Shujin. As soon as they got to Shujin they headed straight to their respective classes. 

*Time skip: Lunchtime*

Once lunchtime rolled around Jaden headed to the board where it showed everyone's grade in their own year. Jade sighed as he looked at the board. “Huh, not bad. Got to remember that their grading system is different from America's.” Drake muttered to himself. “I see that you got that you passed all your exams. Great job Drake-kun.” He heard a male voice say from behind him. The green-haired boy turned around to see Akira standing right behind him. “Oh, thank you Akira-kun.” He told him with a small smile and a pinkish tint of blush on his face. 

Akira chuckled at how Drake acted. “Oh, yeah. Awesome job on getting into the top tens by the way.” He told the taller male as they walked off to go find Ryuji. “Hehe, Thanks.” He said giving Jaden a smile. Once they were down the stairs they saw Xander, Ryuji, and Mishima waiting for them. Once they got to them they began to have a conversation. “We were busy. It’s not like I could focus on studying.” All the boys looked at Ryuji. “Hey, it’s not my fault my scores suck, right?” Ryuji said, looking at them. Akira just shooked his head at Ryuji. “Mate...I’m not even going to say it.” Drake stated as he shook his head. “What?” Ryuji asked. 

Drake again shook his head. “Alright, I get it is my fault. Anyways, there’s something more important here, Mishima…” Ryuji said, looking at him. “You want to ask me something about the internet, right?” He asked looking back at the blond boy. “Yup, I’m gonna be straight with you here, do you know who Medjeb is?” “You weren’t kidding about being direct.” Mishima states. “Well, I suppose the news about Medjed and the Phantom Thieves has caused quite the commotion…” He continued. “They started out as hackers of justice but now they only look out for their own self-interests. That’s all I know. They were the group I texted Kurusu about yesterday.” He tells them. 

“Nobody’s sure actually who belongs to Medjed. Well, it looks like things’ll be the Phantom Thieves’ word debut, no?” He finishes off with a smile. “Dude..” Ryuji said as he put his hand on his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll be rooting for the Phantom Thieves. I’ll get the forum mobilized as well.” He smiled. “Now if we’re done talking here, I really must be going. I’ll see you guys later.” Mishima walked away. “So that was fruitless…” Morgana stated as Mishima walked. “Agreed.” Xander said as he shook his head. “I second that.” Drake said cracking his neck a bit. “Wonder if anyone else got any info.” Ryuji said as he took out his phone. The others did the same. 

Ryuji: Mishima was pretty useless, you guys get anything?

Makoto: I tried asking my sister, but it seemed as though she didn’t know very much about them. 

Makoto: She doesn’t specialize in cybercrime, after all.

Drake: I tried asking my brother over the phone but all I got was. “Why the hell you worrying about some dumb system. Worry about you and your friends.”

Ann: I tried looking into them too, but I didn't come up with anything.

Ann: There are really just no leads.

Xander: We are up against an enemy that we don’t know of. It would be difficult to use the Nav.

Yusuke: It seems so.

Yusuke: Hm, our opponent is truly elusive. 

“No luck.” Ryuji sighed out. “Medjed, hm?” Morgana pondered. “It seems we won’t be able to deal with them by ourselves” “I wonder what they could really be.” Draco sighed out. 

*Time skip: Afternoon*

“I know summer vacation is due to begin next week, but I have an unfortunate announcement.” Ms. Kawakami began looking at the whole class. “We’ll be holding an emergency assembly on Monday the 25th. Please come to school that day.” She finished. Everyone began murmuring about the whole situation. “Great.” Drake signed out, flopping onto his desk with his arms sticking out. “Settle down.” She scolded the class. “We’ve had many strange incidents: the psychotic breakdowns, students being dragged into crime rings…” She explained. “Hence, Principal Kobayakawa has instructed all teachers to caution the student body. This is inconvenient for us too, you know? Having to find things to warn you about so suddenly.” She explained. Once she was done explaining Akira, Ann and Drake took out their phones. 

Ryuji: How’re we gonna find Medjed?

Ann: I’m not sure. No matter how hard I look online, all I find are unreliable rumors.

Yusuke: They have carried out corporate terrorism, yet they still manage to elude arrest somehow.

Yusuke: Kaneshiro was a lot of trouble, but this is turning out to be a much greater ordeal.

Drake: That sounds like a lot of famous people back in America.

Xander: We would just have to wait. It is difficult to attack someone if you can’t see them.

Ryuji: Did we bite off more than we can chew?

Akira: They're too big.

Makoto: Yeah…

Makoto: We don’t even know whether it’s a single individual or a large conglomerate of people.

Makoto: And even if we do manage to get a lead, what do we do from there?

Ryuji: Damn, this stuff’s really not going so good...

Ryuji: That’s prolly why my exams’re going to shit.

Ann: You know those are two separate things, right?

“‘Damn, this stuff’s really not going so good…’ Mwehehe…” A young teenage girl said as she read off the group's texts. “Clues on Medjed, huh?” she smirked. 

The school bell ranged and all the students started to grab their stuff and get ready to leave while some got left behind to chat with friends. “If we can’t identify who it is, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s wait till they make a move.” Morgana stated to Akira. “Although I would love to stay and chit-chat with you I gotta go. I have stuff to do with my older brother and I got to meet him somewhere. If you see Xander tell him I got to meet up with my brother.” Jaden sighed as he began walking away. “Alright. Do you also want me to let Boss know that too?” Akira asked, looking at him Jaden nodded as he headed on. He went past many students on his way out. 

He sighed as he walked off the campus.  _ Was it a good idea not to tell Xander I’m going to see Taka… _ He thought to himself. He walked past Xander who was looking around the area. It seemed like he was looking for someone. Jaden didn’t pay any attention as he walked past his friend. “Hey, Xander.” Draco said, causing the green-haired boy to stop in his tracks and turn around to see his friend. “Huh, oh didn’t notice you guys there.” He said walking up to them. “Don’t worry, I didn’t notice you either. Draco did though. Anyways, what are you doing?” Drake asked his friend. “Well, I was looking for someone. There was this person that I knew online from awhile ago. We were pretty close; she apparently goes by the name Alibaba. She is an excellent hacker so maybe I could ask her to help us.” The taller out of the two explained still looking around. Jaden looked at him. 

“Well, first I don't believe you face time together so you don’t really know what she looks like. Second, she might not even go to this school. Third, she was probably a grown-ass man that was catfishing you. I mean she could be real and fourth, that’s most likely not her real name.” He explained to him with a long sigh. “That would have been true but aren’t you forgetting something?” Xander stated after looking at his friend. Drake looked at him for a minute then realized. “Shit, yeah. Thanks, oh also want to meet him?” Jaden said to his friend. “Yes but that is not what I meant. I was talking about my eagle sense.” He sighed as him and Drake began walking. “One of the games that we played involved voice chat. Since then I have been using eagle sense since we arrived here trying to see her unique tone. From the sound of her voice, she appears to be a girl mostly younger than us.” He sighed again. “No, I didn’t forget about your eagle sense. I’m just saying be careful. Japan isn’t like America. I mean look at the law for the age of consent. 13. So she could be an adult.” He sighs out. “But age can be revealed through a person’s voice. It is rather difficult to explain but whenever I hear people speaking, a younger person’s voice tends to not have voice cracks of different magnitude, some noticeable others difficult to hear. And with Alibaba, her voice was girlish with voice cracks that I can see.” He explained to his older friend. Drake shook his head and sighed. “Whatever, mate. I can sense you’re not lying about this situation. But still...do be careful.” He told him with a sigh as they headed on.

Once they got home they dropped off their bags and quickly left with Jaden grabbing his car keys and them heading to the car. Jaden-Drake’s car was an impala 67 Chevy black. The car was big but from what the inside looked like it could hold up to six people if needed. They got in, Jaden in the driver seat, Draco in a bag next to him, and Xander in the shotgun. They got in and headed out the parking lot and then to the street. The car ride was full of silence between the three of them. Being sick of the silence Jaden turned on the radio and put it on a station he thought was good enough. “...I am not scared you're going to tell me. I’m not scared of the beast and the belly. Fill this cup with ambition. Paint this town with my very own vision.” Xander started singing. Drake just sighed as he heard his friend start singing. 

_ Man, it’s been quite some time since I sang in front of the others...Maybe I should start singing in front of our new friends... _ He sighed again as they pulled up to a white building that looked strange to Xander. “Woooaah, I've never seen a building like this before.” Draco stated as his head was out of the bag looking at the building. “It’s a studio building. Meaning where they have photo shoots and movie scenes.” Drake stated as he walked towards the building. “What a building, talk about a skyscraper?” Xander said looking at the building while following his friend. “Wait, a studio that is one building?” Draco asked. “I’m used to seeing multiple buildings being a part of a studio place.” Xander exclaimed. 

Once they entered the building, both the tan boy and dragon were amazed to find a longed area and a receptionist. “Excuse me, but I don't thi-” She was cut off by Drake showing her his I.D. “Don’t worry he’s with me. Can you tell me what floor Takato Saijo is on.” He asked her while he put away his I.D. “Oh, Right. Sorry, Ethren-san. I didn’t recognize you. I give you the floor Takato-san is on.” she stated as she began typing away on the computer. Xander and Draco both stared at him. “What?” Drake asked his confused friends. “The receptionist seems to know you.” Xander pointed out to Drake. “I’ve been coming here since I was a baby. A lot of people know me here...I also just realized I could have texted him which floor.” He’d facepalm. “That would have been wise.” Xander responded. “Here’s the floor he’s at, have a good day young Ethern.” The lady stated as she gave him a piece of paper with writing on it. 

“Thank you, follow me mate.” Drake stated as he walked away. The three of them entered the elevator and Jaden pressed the button. “Alright, I’m going to tell you guys something. There are going to be actors in this room and some will assume that you're a fan of them. If you want to talk to them and they are rude to you, you have my permission to be rude back. They know me because of my brother and know I don’t take shit. Trust me when I say they won’t do anything to you. They know how my brother can get.” He explained with a sigh. “Oh, and Draco you can’t talk to us in front of them. I'm fine with you talking when it’s with my brother. Also fair warning he does know about the whole Metaverse thing so if he asks you anything about the Metaverse, you can basically say anything about the situation, but don’t talk about the times I get hurt. He is really protective of me.” He finished explaining to his friends. 

“Don’t worry I will be careful with what I say.” Xander smiled at his friend. Drake smiled. “Thanks, mate.” Once they got to the floor the doors opened to reveal another lounge area with a vending machine. Jaden walked out and headed right. Xander followed him as he entered the door. Upon entering it, Xander and Draco saw a whole staff of actors, carmamen, and dictators. “Cool.” Draco hissed out. Drake chuckles as he walks in further with Xander following close behind. They walked past people not even batting an eye at the three of them. 

Once they were at a table with one of the actors sitting there with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. He had black hair and was wearing nice, dark clothes. “Hey bro.” Jaden said looking at him. “Hey, Drake. I see you brought a friend with you.” The black-haired actor said looking at Xander. “Yep. Xander, this is my older brother Takato Saijo.” Jaden said. “Hi, Takato. I am Jaden’s best friend. It is a pleasure to finally meet.” Xander said as he bowed a little. Takato smiled a little as he nodded. “Hmm, nice to finally meet you as well Xander.” Drake smiled as he watched the exchange. “That kinda reminds me, how's Junta doing?” The teen asked his older brother who sighed after that. “Clingy as ever but we’re working on that. Thankfully.” He answered his brother truthfully. He smiled at his brother's comment. He shifts his attention to the set in front of him, where the director was giving orders. “Now I must ask you two, since I know you’re good friends with him and of course, are like brothers. How is Damien?” Takato asked as he closed his eyes again. Jaden froze on the spot as Draco and Xander looked at each other. Xander looks down with a sigh. “...He..He’s no longer with us.” He tells him while still looking down. 

Takato opened his eyes and brought his attention to the both of them. “Oh...I’m sorry to hear about that…” He paused for a second, then looked at his younger brother. “I knew how close you were to him. Just remember he’s in a better place now.” He said with an awkward smile. “Yeah….”Drake sighs. “Can we just change the topic, please?” He said softly. “Yeah of course. Um...Oh, how's working in the Metaverse?” The dark-haired male trying to change the subject quickly. “Kind of good, besides that incident. Have been helping people out here and there.” Xander explained. “Well, that’s always good to hear. Hey little bro, do you-” Takato was cut off by the director telling him it was his part to do. He sighed and shook his head. “Well, I’ll see you guys later then, I have my part to do.” He said as he got up and walked away. “Welp, that’s our cue to leave. Come on, mate.” Drake said as he headed for the door with Xander right behind him.

*Time skip: Evening*

Jaden was in the shower while Xander was in the living area when he got a text.

Yusuke: So I looked.

Ann: Did you find anything?

Yusuke: As you know, Medjed is a god that appears in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Ann: Huh?

Yusuke: Its name apparently means “the smiter”.

Yusuke: It seems nobody is actually sure that Medjed is a real name.

Yusuke: On top of that, almost everything else about him is unknown.

Yusuke: Even his form is unattainable.

Xander: An enemy who is unseen.

Xander: It’s going to be rather difficult to get them

Yusuke: Right. An unseen god that flies through the sky and shoots from his eyes...

Yusuke: He truly is an elusive being.

Ryuji: Dude.

Yusuke: Everything about his existence is shrouded in mystery

Ryuji: Wait. 

Yusuke: Fundamentally speaking, ancient Egyptain art always depicted gods drawn in a side profile.

Yusuke: However, Medjed is facing straight ahead in all depictions of him

Yusuke: Taking all of this into account, he seems to be quite the alien being

Akira: Well done.

Ryuji: Hey, there’s nothing to be impressed about.

Drake: Well unlike you there are people who would love to hear what Yusuke has stated.

Drake: Fuckin’ dumbass

Yusuke: I hope that information was at least somewhat useful.

Makoto: Indeed it was.

Yusuke: Should I look into more?

Makoto: That’s enough, thank you.

“Well, I know who I’m going to talk to when it comes to mythology.” Drake said as he walked out with a towel around his neck. “Do you mean Inari?” Xander asked his friend as he watched him sit down on the couch. “Yep.” He smiled.

*Time skip: 7/20: Early morning*

“And here comes another hot day at school.” Jaden sighed as he waited for his friend to get in his car. “Yay and boo!” Draco said with a smile. Jaden chuckled as Xander got into the car and they drove off. As soon as they got to the school, Jaden parked his car in the student parking lot and they headed inside the school building. Once inside there they heard conversations about the Phantom Thieves versus Medjed. All three boys rolled their eyes at the comments. “I wonder who is going to win. The Phantom Thieves or Medjed.” The boys walked away not wanting to listen to more. “I hate that this is what people are talking about nowadays.” Draco hissed out. “They are people bored out of their minds there's nothing we can do about it.” The green-haired teen stated. “We just plan out our next move.” Xander said as they headed to their homerooms. “Right.” 

*Time skip: After school*

The Phantom Thieves have a meeting and Akira shows them the text messages that Alibaba sent to him. “Considerin’ he mentioned stealin’ hearts, he knows, doesn’t he?” Ryuji said. “Seems so...” Makoto. “First of all  _ she _ is a young female and second of all how do we really know it’s her.” Xander stated, getting a little huffy. “Wait what?” Ann said. “That’s his old friend and he gets defensive when someone talks trash and, or doesn’t know anything about his friends, just continue.” Drake said with a small sigh. “Anyways, how were we found out?” Yusuke said with a hint of anger in his tone. “I wished I knew…” Drake said as he sighed. “Well, he may have traced our chat log…” Makoto stated. “How careless of us.” Yusuke said “It’s not really our fault. Hackers are hackers, we can’t really stop them.” Drake explained. “But how would he have known these details with just that?” Makoto asked. “Do you think that there is another cause?” Yusuke pondered. 

“Yeah. I’m not sure why, but that’s the feeling I get.” Makoto told them in a soft voice. “Hey, is it that easy to look at someone’s chat log?” Ann asked them. “Normally no. But unless they’re hackers or just really good at technology.” Draco said looking at Jaden for confirmation. Drake nodded his head at the young lizard. “I don’t know much about it myself, but...it’s probably not impossible, I think?” Makoto sighed out. “How’s it done?” Ryuji asked her. “Maybe they extracted our phones’ data?” She answered. “It’s a lot more complicated than that, so it’s a lot harder to explain than you think.” Xander told them, shaking his head. “Why’s Akira getting an error when he tries to reply?” Ann asked. “Perhaps the receiving end doesn’t exist.” Makoto stated. 

“That’s possible?” Ryuji asks in surprise. “Don’t ask me everything. I told you that I don’t know much about it.” Makoto told him. “Wait. Might this be, from what Jaden and Draco kept on telling us, is referred to as hacking?” Yusuke asked, looking at the green-haired teen and yellow bearded dragon. “Yes. Again it’s a lot harder to explain then it is to show, and I’m not much of a hacker myself. I just knew people that did this sort of thing.” Drake sighed out as he explained. 

“Then, does that mean this guy’s a hacker!?” Ryuji asked. “Yep. Like I explained, mate.” Drake said. “I don’t get high-tech stuff! What does this all mean?” Morgana shouted. “An unknown hacker contacted us!” Ann told him. “I see. I don’t really get it.” He said. Akira shook his head a little bit after the cat said that. “Then is this person Medjed?” Yusuke asked. “I doubt it, considering he says he wants to “deal” with them.” Makoto said. “That is, only if we take his words for face value.” “True…” Yusuke agreed. “Hey...Wouldn’t it be great if we got this guy on our side?” Ryuji pondered. “That’s...not a half bad of an idea.” Drake said. “But we know nothing about his identity at all. We can’t trust him.” Makoto said, looking at the both of them. 

“I don’t think it’s a bad deal though…” Ryuji said. “I see where both of you are coming from.” Drake sighed. “But I agree with Ryuji. An enemy of my enemy is my friend as the saying goes.” The green-haired boy pointed out. “Even if Alibaba turns out to be a criminal? I am not helping anyone of that sort.” Yusuke stated. “Oh, right. That wouldn’t be good.” Ryuji sighed out. “We have no other choice though. Alibaba is our only way of beating Medjed.” Xander explained to the group. “I have to agree. It goes to say don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Right now we’re judging something based on second-hand information. Aren’t we a group that’s the opposite of that?” Jaden stated to them. Everyone nodded in agreement. “Although, the ‘I’ve prepared the necessary too’ part makes no sense either.” Morgana stated. 

“Could this be a prank?” Ann asked. “He knows an awful lot for it to be a prank.” Makoto responded. “If he knows who we are, won’t we get caught?” Ann asked. “No. If he wanted to report us, I think he would’ve done it already.” The brunette stated. “He must have some sort of objective of his own. He did offer us a deal, after all.” Yusuke said. “I’m certain he’ll contact us again.” He finished. “There’s no telling when he’ll do so, though…” Makoto said. “It’d be best if we stay together if something happens, we can act at once.” She told them. “I have to agree with that. Who knows what would happen if we don’t.” Drake sighed. “Yeah. So, somewhere we can wait and hide for long hours…” Ann stated. “How about Leblanc?” Makoto said watching everyone nod. “Alright, let’s go then.” Akira told the group as they walked off.

*Time Skip: Evening*

The group walked into Leblanc to see Sojiro leaning on the counter holding a note looking at it. Akira looked puzzled as he walked up to him. Once he walked up to the black-haired adult he put the paper down and looked at him. “...Oh? What’s with the big group?” He asked looking at the group. “Good evening. We were thinking about putting together plans for our summer.” Ann told him. “Hm? Well, I don’t see why not. Just don’t cause too much trouble.” He said to them. “This old man’ll get going and leave you kids be. All right, the store is all yours.” He said as he walked towards the door then leaves. Once he left, they ordered food then sat down at a table. Their food arrives and they set it up at the table then just start talking. The T.V was on which was airing a news channel. 

“We have late-breaking news on Medjed, whose notoriety rose since their statement the other day.” The T.V.’s news reporter said. “Just moments ago, a new message has been released on their website. They have announced their victory over the Phantom Thieves. Medjed also warns any Japanese citizens who praised the Phantom Thieves to stop doing so. We will report any further actions by Medjed as they arrive.” He finished off. “Oh, come on! It’s in English!” Ryuji shouted as he checked his phone. Drake just chuckled as he shook his head. “Let me see. ‘The Phantom Thieves remain silent at our questions. This proves that we are just.’” Ann read out loud. “‘People of Japan, wake up. You must not worship the Phantom Thieves.’” She continued. 

“What!? That’s bullshit!” Ryuji shouted. “Keep listening.” Yusuke told him. “‘We will discipline any who worship them. The punishment is the confiscation of possessions. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.’” She finished. “That’s what it says.” She told them. “What does that all mean!?” Ryuji yelled. “They’re saying that they’ll target sympathizers of the Phantom Thieves.” Makoto stated. “For someone that wants to get rid of evil they sure are punishing that they will hurt people that don’t follow them. Sounds just like a cult.” Drake signed out. “Confiscation of possessions, hm?” Yusuke said. “Perhaps bank accounts or personal information...Either way, it won’t be anything pleasant.” Makoto stated. “Why the hell are we being singled out!?” Ryuji yelled out. “Like hell, I would know.” The green-haired teen huffed. 

“Perhaps all they care about is labeling the Phantom Thieves as crooks.” Makoto stated. “That all this wouldn’t have happened had the Phantom Thieves not existed.” She continued. “That’s complete bullshit.” Ryuji stated. “Talk about a troublesome organization that we’ve been targeted by…” Morgana stated. “Isn’t there anything we can do?” Ann questioned. “I don’t really think so.” Xander sighed out. “It’s certain we can’t do anything about this on our own…” Yusuke said with a saddened expression. “Hey, so what’s this letter about? We don’t need any more trouble.” Ryuji said to Akira. “It’s rare for you to get something like this.” Morgana said. Akira picked up the letter then took out the card. He then observed the envelope. 

Nothing seemed strange about it. “What could it be?” Xander pondered. Akira put down the red paper. “A calling card?” Morgana asked in confusion. “Anything else in there!? Who’s this from anyway?” Ann said. “No, there wasn’t anything else in the envelope and I don’t really know.” Akira sighed out. “There’s no stamp on it. Someone must’ve directly dropped it into the mailbox…” Makoto said. “Could have been Alibaba?” Yusuke asked. “That reminds me, he did mention something about preparing the ‘necessary tool’...” Morgana stated. “Don’t tell me..Is this what he was talking about!?” The blue-eyed feline asked. “What the hell’s goin’ on here?” Ryuji said. “All we can do at the moment is wait for Alibaba’s orders.” Makoto said. “Let’s brace ourselves and stand by...in case anything comes up.” 

“I’m going to repeat this: an enemy of my enemy is my friend. So I guess we’re allying it up with them.” Drake stated. “Oh dear…” Ann sighed out. 

*Time Skip: At Jaden and Xander’s apartment*

“Man, I don’t really like this Alibaba person...Oh, no offense mate.” Drake started as he looked at Xander with a sheepish look. “None taken.” Xander sighed. “Kay, anyways. I wonder if they're just using us to get some recognition.” The short teen sighed out once he plopped himself on the couch. He thought for a bit while sighing again. “Man, this reminds me when we first formed the Hidden Ones. Heh, man, we didn’t understand who to trust and when to trust them.” Drake sighed. “Man, I miss those days.” He sighed again. 

He closed his eyes as he started to remember the days with the Hidden Ones. To him, it seemed like a lifetime ago. He sighed again. Draco looked at him with a knowing expression. “We can’t change the past. All we can do is look towards the future as you always tell us; The past is in the past and the future is in the future.” He told his human friend who chuckled at him. “Yeah, you’re right, I always do say that.” He agreed. “Just think of the friends we have today.” The dragon smiled.  _ Speaking of other friends I wonder what Akira is doing.  _ Drake blushed as he thought of the Phantom Thief leader. “The sight of love. Rather funny to see in your eyes.” Xander chuckled as he sat right next to his friend. 

“S-shut up, and what do you mean by that?” Drake asks him while his face was turning red. “My eagle sense is getting stronger and every time it is always to see your vivid feelings towards Akira.” Xander smirked as he watched his friend become even redder. “W-what?! Dude?! N-no, I don’t...” Drake stammered trying to think of a way out. “You are digging your own hole of embarrassment.” He continued to smirk at him. “Fuck! I can’t help that he’s just too freakin’ cute. Or the fact that everything about him is just so hot. Or how kind he is...He’s just...great…*sighs* I’m helpless aren’t I?” Drake asks as he flops a bit on the couch. 

“Yes, yes you are.” Xander told him. The shorter teen huffed a bit. “*sighs* What makes it worse is the fact I don’t know if he feels the same way.” He said as he bites his lip a bit. “You will just have to wait for the right moment.” The tan male told him. “Yeah, you're right. Anyways, we better get started on our home, god knows we have to before summer break.” Drake explained as he stretched. “Shall we begin?” Xander asked as he grabbed their bags. Jaden chuckles as he grabs his and gets his homework out while Xander does the same thing. 

*Time Skip: 7/21 Early Morning*

They were in Jaden-Drake’s car on the way to school at a stoplight. “Man, I hope today’s not going to suck.” Draco sighed as the two teens were looking out of the window. “Same here. I just hope nothing bad happens. Let’s face it we already have enough stuff to worry about.” Drake stated with a sigh that showed how tired he really was. “I also wonder if everyone’s alright. Learning we have to listen to Alibaba must be hard on some of them.” He huffs out. “We are basically pawns to her right now.” Xander explains to the two of them. 

“*Sighs* I feel bad for you the most mate. You two must have become good friends.” Drake said as he started the car again since the light turned green. Xander looked at his friend then sighed. “Heh, it will be fun when she realizes that it is me that she messed with.” Xander chuckled. Drake smiled and shook his head. “That’s going to be fun when we see her face to face as she realizes who you are...Did you ever give her your real name, mate?” He asked, looking at Xander. “No, my username was either ScarcenXD or Scarenknight.” He explained. Drake nodded as they made their way to the school.

*Time skip: Morning*

Akira, Ann, and Jaden-Drake were all in their class doing what they would normally do. Ann, listening to the teacher, Akira, somewhat listening to the teacher, and Drake, taking a quick nap. Everything was quiet till Akira's phone buzzed. Upon hearing this Morgana popped his head out of his desk. “Hey, your phone’s buzzing!” He told Akira. Akira checked his phone. “*sigh* It’s just Ryuji.” The cat said. The bearded dragon ignored the whole thing as he made sure Drake was still asleep since he stayed up too late the night before. Akira read the text messages to himself and shook his head a bit. He put his phone away and went back to doing what he was doing. While Draco tried walking Drake up to no avail.

*Time skip: Afternoon* 

They were back in class listening to the homeroom teacher. Thankfully Drake was fully awake and listening to Ms. Kawakami. Akira’s phone buzzed for what seemed like the fifth time that day. Drake shook his head while Morgana sighed. “Ryuji again? He just never shuts up, does he?” He huffed out. “Sounds like someone I know.” Draco mumbled as he curled further into Jaden’s desk. Said teen shook his head as he watched Akira check his phone. This time Akira kinda seemed a bit surprised by what Jaden could see. “So, it was really from this guy…” The feline said. 

Drake quickly understood what was going on and shook his head.  _ I’ll learn about this later from Akira.  _ He sighed to himself as he went back to listening to the teacher. “Tell him. We need the name of the target.” He heard the feline say but choose to ignore this time. He started nodding off to sleep until he heard Morgana speak again. “So he threatened you, then just took off!?”  _ What the hell?  _ He thought to himself. “And Sakura..? I feel like I’ve heard that name before…In any case, we should let everyone know about this.” The blue-eyed feline stated. 

Drake nudged Akira a bit. Akira turned his head a bit and saw the green-haired teen looking at him with a confused and worried expression. “You okay, mate?” He asked the fluffy, black-haired teen. Akira looked at Jaden and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Just, Alibaba texted me again. See.” Akira said as he showed Drake without the teacher noticing. “Huh, geez. We better watch out then and find out whoever this kid is.” The young teen sighed as he leaned back into his seat preparing to fall asleep. “And whoever this person is, that needs a change of heart, I hope they're ready for that.” He yawns as he falls right to sleep. 

Akira watches the other male for while he is falling asleep. He chuckles at his friend’s continues to keep falling asleep in class.  _ He’s adorable when he falls asleep in class. I wish I could help him fall asleep better at night.  _ The black-haired boy said as he smiled at the thought.  _ I wonder how he would look in my arms.  _ He smirked to himself. He continues to watch him for a few more minutes before going back to what the teacher was talking about.

*Time skip: After school*

“We’re gonna get reported if we don’t do this? What the hell…” Ryuji said after being shown the text messages from Akira’s phone. “‘Futaba Sakura’?” Ann questioned. “Wasn’t Sakura…” Makoto started. “It’s Boss’s last name!” Ann finished it for her. “Does he have any family?” Yusuke asked. “Boss has a kid...that really doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.” Drake said with a heavy sigh. “Does he?” Morgana questions. “I don’t really know.” Akira said as he put his hand on his chin. 

“For reals!? How laid-back are you!?” Ryuji snapped at him. “Hey, it’s not his fault for not asking Boss in the beginning if he had any family. I mean it is kinda rude to ask that.” Jaden stated, glaring at Ryuji. “Wouldn’t you normally be introduced at least? I mean, you ARE living at his place.” Ryuji said. “Well, his situation does make things difficult…” Yusuke said. “True, why would someone trust a kid who has a criminal record, it is only us that know that the charge is fake.” Xander stated as he looked towards each member of the group. 

The teen green-haired right next time to him nodded. “If I was a parent in his situation, I wouldn’t want them near my kid. Ah, no offense Akira-kun.” Drake said, looking at Akira with a blush of embarrassment in his face. “None taken.” He said as he chuckled a bit. “Anyways, the calling card was delivered to Boss’s house; it’d be more natural to assume this is all related.” Makoto stated. “One of the reasons for that is because Alibaba mentioned nothing about “which” Futaba Sakura. Perhaps he thinks that the name alone is enough.” She said to them. 

“That makes sense.” Morgana said. “I believe it’s adequate for us to think that this is the doing of someone close by.” Makoto said, looking at the group. “I see.” Ann said looking at her. 

“I don't know how Alibaba got a hold of Akira-kun’s smartphone information. However, since he’s ordering us through chat, I do feel as though he’s taunting us.” Makoto explained with a sad expression on her face. “You mean, this might just be a prank?” Ryuji asked, looking at her. “I mean, look at his demands.” She pointed out. “Pay me if you don’t want me to leak who you really are-that I’d understand. But he’s telling us to steal someone’s heart without explaining why.” She explained to them. “So we’re being tested?” Yusuke asked. “I don’t really believe that we are.” Drake said. “Regardless, I think we should ask Boss about Futaba Sakura once.” She said. 

“That’s probably for the best. There’s nothing else we can do at the moment, and Chief might have an idea on what this is about too.” Morgana said. “I’ll check the school’s roster just in case.” Makoto said. “He will probably be mad at us if we were to ask about his family member.” Xander explains to them. “We don’t have a choice in the matter, mate.” The green-hair teen explained. “With that aside, we must make sure Boss doesn’t figure out who we are. We’ll have to go about this cautiously.” Yusuke said, looking towards his friends. Everyone nodded. 

“Well, I guess we’ll see you later. Also, good luck Akira-kun. I bet you’re going to need it.” Drake said as he patted Akira. “Also, boop.” he said as he boops Akira on the nose then left with Xander shaking his head following behind him. Everyone just chuckled or shook their heads as they left. Aside from Akira who stood there blushing a bit.  _ Holy shit that’s adorable. I want him so badly.  _ He thinks as he grabs his bag and walks away. 

“Don’t even think about it Jaden.” Xander said as he jokingly glared at his short friend. Drake just chuckled. “What’s the point when I know you're going to dodge it.” He told him. Draco just shook his head at the two human’s banter. “You two are strange people, but I love you two for that.” The bearded dragon smiled. 

“And you are a strange pet, but we love you for that.” Xander said with a smile as well. Draco looked at him and stuck his fork tongue out. Drake shook his head at the two of them. “You two are ridiculous. But will be my good friends no matter what.” He states as the trio walk into the school parking lot and get into Drake’s Impala and drive away to their shared apartment. 

*Time skip: Evening*

The two teens were doing their homework when they got a text on their phone.

[Phone convo]

Ann: Oh, I just remembered!

Ann: Akira, were you able to ask Boss about Futaba Sakura?

Akira: I tried…

Yusuke: So, no results. Could there be a reason as to why that was?

Makoto: Hm. Alibaba might be our only hope of defeating Medjed.

Makoto: I wish we could get some info about Futaba out of Boss.

Ann: But trying to force it out would probably have the opposite effect.

Yusuke: To be honest, I owe a great deal to both Boss and Akira.

Yusuke: I don’t wish for this to be a source of discord between them. 

Drake: I owe Boss for allowing me to work for him and Akira whenever he needs it. 

Drake: So I got no complaints with finding out the hard way. 

Ryuji: Yeah, I know just what you mean!

Xander: We have no other choice.

Makoto: It’s probably best to wait for Boss to bring the subject himself. 

Jaden-Drake yawned as he laid on the couch a bit. “This is going to be difficult for us isn’t it?” Jaden sighs. “Most likely.” Xander said.

*Time Skip: 7/22: Morning.*

“Summer vacation starts the day after tomorrow, but don’t forget…” Mr. Ushimaru started up. “There's an urgent assembly on Monday. We’ll be taking attendance. There’s been an unusual number of strange incidents this year. Don’t do anything stupid over break. Got it? Don’t someplace shady like the red-light district, and don’t go to the beach after dark.” While he was stating this all, Drake was dead asleep on his desk with his arms crossed and his head to the side laying on them. “I wanna go to the beach...I wanna jump in some cold water…Seems like we won’t be having fun on our summer break for a while…” The blue-eyed feline said. “That’s true. But all I want to do is take a nice long nap under a shady rock under the sun.” The yellow lizard said as he responded to Morgana's statement. 

*Time Skip: After school*

Drake went to hang out with his older brother, Takato, while Xander was at the school's front looking for someone. He didn’t notice a certain red-haired girl with a ponytail behind him. “Audiotori-Senpai!!” She yells as she jumps a bit. Xander jumps a bit out of surprise then turns around to meet her. In his left eye was fading from its blue glow. “Ohh...what a pleasant surprise Kasumi-san.” He states looking at the redhead. 

“Hi, Audiotori-Senpai.” She said with a sweet smile on her face. “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me today?” She looked at him. “Sure my schedule is open for today.” Xander said with a smile. “Awesome, let’s go.” She said as she walked away with Xander following her. They both walked to the subway and had a nice chat about their school work with Xander cracking a few puns like he usually does with Kasumi laughing from them. Xander smiles as he watches her laugh at his puns. He appeared to have been more relaxed at the moment. 

This whole exchange was making him more relaxed from everything that was happening recently. He smiled a genuine smile. They made it to their stop and got off and continued walking towards the beach. The beach was thankfully not as crowded as it usually was. “Come on, let’s go Audiotori-Senpai.” Kasumi said with a smile as she walked towards the sand with a skip of joy. 

Xander chuckled as he followed her. “Alright, wait up.” He said as he walked behind her. They continued until they got to the sand. “Do you just want to sit and talk some more or have our swimsuits on and have fun in the water?” She asked, looking at him. “Well, the choice is up to you.” He told her. “Well then, let’s just sit and talk more.” She walked towards one of the tables then sat down. 

Xander followed her and sat across from her. “So how long have you known Etheren-Senpai?” The red-haired girl asked, looking at him. He looked at her and smiled. “We actually go a bit, I think it’s been two or three years now. We didn’t know each other at first but when our other friends knew that both of us liked similar games, they decided to introduce us to each other.” He explained to her. 

“Wow, that’s so cool. You guys seemed like really good friends so I just wanted to know a little bit more about your guy's relationship. Also, how long are you guys going to be here in Japan for? Also, why did you guys transfer to Shujin?” Kasumi asked, looking at him with a smile. 

“Well...For the first question: might be for a year or three. And to the second it’s a bit complicated.” Xander said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, it’s all right you don’t have to explain to me right now if you don’t want to. It’s kind of the same situation for me as well.” She said with a little sad expression. “Which...I guess you kind of know a bit of it.” Xander looked at her and sighed. “Hey come on now.” He smiled as he put a hand on her cheek. “Smile my dear, you are never fully dressed without one.” He closed his eyes and smiled some more. 

It took him a few moments to realize what he was doing when he opened his eyes to see a little blush on Kasumi. He chuckles awkwardly as he takes his hand away from her cheek with a barely noticeable blush on his face. “Whoops, my apologies.” They look away from each other for a little bit. “I-it’s alright. I-I don’t really mind.” She said while she was still blushing. 

They sat there in an awkward silence not knowing what to say after that.  _ Why did I do that, I was blinded by her cuteness. Why?! Why?! I am such a fool. _ He thinks as he starts blushing a little bit more.  _ Why did he do that? Was there something on my face? Oh god, why did he have to look good when he did that.  _ She thought as her blush became darker. Before any of them could speak or make the situation even more awkward Xander gets a text on his phone. 

Drake: Hey, I’m heading back home from Taka’s place. Do you want me to pick you up from wherever you’re at or do you want to take the train?

Xander breathed out of relief as he picked up his phone. “Uh Kasumi, I need to check something real quick.” He states as he looks through his text messages. “Oh, it’s fine.” She breathed out as will. 

[Phone convo]

Drake: Hey, I’m heading back home from Taka’s place. Do you want me to pick you up from wherever you’re at or do you want to take the train?

Xander: Go on ahead and pick me up.

Drake: Kay, where are you so I can come get you?

Xander: By the beach.

Drake: Kay I’ll be there in a few.

Xander: Kay.

He puts his phone away and looks at the redhead. “Sorry, but I have to go right now. Jaden-Drake needs help with something.” Xander said as he gets up and grabs his bag. “Oh, okay. I need to get to my practice anyways. So, I’ll see you later.” She states as she does the same thing.  _ What a relief, probably won’t tell Jaden-Drake what happened.  _ He thought with a sigh. 

“See you later Kasumi.” He said as he began walking to the parking lot to wait for his friend. His face was still red from embarrassment.  _ Calm down already, just concentrate.  _ He activated his eagle sense trying to find the green-haired male’s car. Meanwhile, Jaden-Drake had just parked and threw his head back with a grunt. “Shit, Taka worries too much.” He sighs out. Drake looks around trying to look for Xander. He sighed to himself again. He sometimes hates waiting by himself for his own personal reasons. 

He grabbed his phone to text Xander he was there when there was a tap on his driver window. He looked to his left to see a strange-looking man looking in. Drake already knows where this is going to go. He ignores this man and texts Xander.

Drake: Hey, I’m here.

Drake: Find me fast. There is a strange man at my door and you know how I can get.

He puts his phone down and rolls the window down so he can speak to him. “Yes. Can I help you, sir?” The confused but straight face teen asked the man who was over his window. The guy smirks at the short teen. “Well, hello there little lady.~ Why yes, you can help me.~” The guy said as he leans down so he can get more of a good look at Drake. 

The green-haired teen can smell the smell of beer on him.  _ Great, this is a drunk dude. Just great. _ He thought to himself as he sighed and looked at the older male. “Okay first. I am a guy. Second what type of help do you need?” He asks as he grabs his metal knife just in case. “Well, you don’t look like a guy. You look like a very pretty girl. A girl that needs something to fill her.” He smirks and it clicks in Jaden’s head what he wanted. 

The young teen cringed as he looked at him. “Mate, I am male. Dick and all. Also, I’m 16. You can’t just go and when someone asks you for help to tell them that they need to have something fill them. Also, you're drunk so I’ll be calling the police.” The short teen said as he began to grab his phone to text Xander to hurry when the man grabbed him. “I don’t think it’s worth the time to bother the police.” He said with a smirk. 

Jaden smirked as he opened his door. The man thinks that the teen has finally agreed to do what he wants. He lets go of him so he can get out of the car but once the teen does he punches the man right in the face then kicks him. The man grabs his face and looks at the teen with surprise. “Don’t try to touch someone that can easily kill you. Well, don’t try to fuck someone at all.” The teen said as he watched the man get up and began to run. 

He smirks to himself as he sees a small dagger fly right past his head and hit the guy in his baggy pants keeping him from running. “Don’t worry it isn’t my Spear of Leonidas. This one is not lethal, it will just make him stop.” Xander said as he smirked when walking up to the car. 

Drake shrugs. “I know. Anyways, let’s get out of here.” The teen huffed as he got back into his car with Xander following to the shotgun. They backed out and drove away. “Well, to get the nasty-ass man out of my head. What were you doing at the beach anyways? I don’t remember you being a beach person. I mean, hell, I have asked you if you wanted to go but always a no, so why did you go now.” The teen asked his friend while he looked for an album to listen to on his phone but kept his eyes on the road. 

Xander did not look at his friend, instead he blushed and looked out the window without the other noticing. “Well...The sounds of the ocean is something I always find soothing.” Xander lied to his friend without really thinking. The green-haired teen sighed when he heard that. “I get it but you don’t have to lie about something but if you're uncomfortable with telling me then you don’t have to tell me.” Drake stated with a huff and left it at that.

*Time skip: Evening*

They made it home and went to their rooms without saying another word to each other. Drake sighed as he dropped his keys on his bedside table then went to his desk to start on his new animation project when his phone buzzed. He opened up and saw it was from the group.

[Phone convo]

Ryuji: Yo, how’d it go?

Ryuji: You find out anything about Futaba Sakura?

Ann: I’ve been wondering about that too!

Akira: Tell you tomorrow.

Ryuji: Woah-ho.

Yusuke: So you did learn something. Fine work.

Ann: I knew we could count on you

Makoto: Akira-kun, thank you

Drake: That’s great mate.

Drake sighed as he sent that text. He really dislikes the idea of going into someone's personal life without their permission since it wasn’t any of his business. He goes back into his project without another thought. He was about to call it quits for the night so he could get some sleep and do something else when he got another text. 

He checked if it was a scam when he saw it was from Akira. The green-haired teen blushed and almost fell out of his seat.  _ What!? Why is Akira texting me!? What time is it?!  _ He thought as he checked the time. His phone showed it was 8:15. He looked relieved but still confused. 

[Phone Convo]

Akira: Hey, Little Dragon, how are you feeling?

Drake: Little dragon?

Akira: Well…

Akira: It’s my...It’s my new nickname for you. 

Akira: Do you not like it?

Drake: No no. I love it, it’s just that this is my first time having a nickname that wasn’t from my family or a shorter version of my name.

Akira: Haha. Okay, okay.

Drake: Anyways, to answer your question, I’m feeling fine thanks for asking.

Akira: It’s alright. I just want to make sure you are feeling your best.

Drake: Aw, that’s sweet, mate.

Akira: Yeah, I know. Anyways, I have a question to ask you.

Akira: Would you...Would you like to have a sleepover at my place? Or would mind if I stay at your shared apartment?

Drake: Um, sure. I wouldn’t mind at all. I don’t really mind where it is as long as Boss knows I guess.

Akira: Great. I’ll have to talk to you in person about the time and place.

Drake: Alright. 

Drake sighed happily to himself with a small blush on his face. Akira had just asked him to sleep over at his or the shared apartment. He sat there rolling on his bed a little bit with joy. He doesn’t remember being this happy before, besides getting to see old family he loved or getting presents as a kid from anything. Drake and Akira texted until 10:30 where Akira convinced him to go to bed. 

Drake smiled and chuckled at his friend’s concern with his sleeping habit. He smiled at the thought of being next to him when sleeping.  _ I would love to be in his arms cuddling up to him and feeling his warm body against mine.  _ He thought to himself as he began to fall asleep.

*Time Skip: 7/23: After School*

Everyone was at the hangout to talk about what Akira knew. “A woman was threatening Boss?” Makoto asked. “Yeah, she was going on about domestic abuse and taking the case to court and stuff…” Morgana explained to everyone. “I don’t know how it is in Japan, but when you want to do that you need a lot of legal evidence, not just the basic information. So, in other words she can’t do that without evidence.” Jaden explained to them. “That is true, you can’t take a case far without solid evidence.” Xander agreed with his friend. “....” Makoto sighed to herself as the three of them made their statements. 

“What’s up?” Ryuji asked Makoto. “It’s nothing.” Makoto said as she looked at the male blond. “So to summarize what you told us, Futaba is Boss’s daughter, and he’s abusing her?” She asked looking at the feline and the fluffy black-haired boy. “I don’t know him very well… Is he really the kind of person who would do that?” He looked at her and sighed. “There’s no way.” Akira said. The brown-haired girl nodded. “I would like to believe so as well, but we don’t have any conclusive evidence, do we?” After she said that Akira’s phone pinged. “Is it Alibaba!?” Morgana asked the messy-haired boy. Everyone gathered to watch the text message. 

[Phone convo]

Alibaba: I’ve given you a calling card and told you the target’s name. You should be ready for this.

Alibaba: Why aren’t you doing it?

Alibaba: I told you I’d help you if you stole her heart. What seems to be the hold up?

Alibaba: I also said I’d report your identity to the police if you didn’t help me.

Alibaba: Are you OK with that? I’m serious here.

Yusuke shook his head with a sour expression. “What a selfish person.” He stated. “Well, he does have information on us…” Makoto said. “Anyways, this Futaba he’s talking about have a Palace? If so, we’ll need keywords to get it. Try messaging him about ‘em.” Ryuji told Akira. 

Akira: Tell me her keywords.

Alibaba: Keywords?

Alibaba: What are you talking about? 

Alibaba: Are you just saying random stuff to dodge the issue?

“What’re we supposed to do about this?” Ann asked with a worried expression. “We'd be able to figure out Alibaba’s identity if we could just meet with him… Try asking him if there's any way we could meet up.” Morgana said to him.

Akira: Let’s meet somewhere.

Alibaba: Meet? With me?

Alibaba: That will be difficult.

Alibaba: I have reasons for not being able to go out.

Alibaba: That’s why I’m contacting you like this.

“He can’t go out?” Morgana asked

Alibaba: Wait I get it.

Alibaba: You steal people’s hearts directly… That might make things difficult.

Alibaba: Extremely difficult.

Alibaba: One moment.

Alibaba: I’m thinking…

Alibaba: Ok. It’s a shame, but I’m calling this deal off. Stop looking into Futaba Sakura.

Alibaba: Forget this ever happened. I won’t report you to the police either, don’t worry.

Alibaba: Sorry for taking your time. Now if you’ll excuse me...

Akira: Wait a second.

Alibaba: I said the deal’s off!

Alibaba: We’re never going to speak again. Don’t expect me to contact you anymore either.

_ I can’t find an account to send a response to. All I get back is an error message... _ Akira thought while they still looked at his phone. “Huh…? Did he just shut the whole operation down?” Ann asked shocked after what she just read. “This doesn’t make any sense… Not only can Alibaba not go out, but he won’t let us meet Futaba either?” Morgana said. “Well, it’s none of our business now. We can’t contact him anymore.” Ryuji stated. 

“But...what do we do about Medjed? We won’t be able to get Alibaba to help us with them now.” Ann said. “I don’t know. It seems that we’re on our own for now.” Drake sighed as he shook his head. “Seems like it.” Xander stated with a sigh. “Maybe they were just prankin’ us.” Ryuji shrugged. “They made that huge declaration, but they ain’t done nothing since. I bet we got ‘em freaked out.” The blond stated. 

“You mean they backed out because they’re afraid we’ll change their hearts?” Morgana asked. “Yup. And now it’d just make ‘em look lame if they came out and apologized.” The blond male stated with a smile. Drake shook his head and sighed. “But-” Makoto tried to explain but was cut off by the blond. “I guess with Alibaba and Medjed outta the picture, can we just say this case is closed.” He smiled out. 

“...You do have a point. I guess it is safe for us to relax a little” The Makoto sighed out. The short male shook his head “I don’t think so. I get the feeling that’s not it. I believe there’s more than meets the eye here.” Drake explained to the group. They all looked at him. Ryuji shook his head. 

“Oh yeah, remember Kaneshiro’s Treasure? Prepare to have your minds blown! We got one hundred and fifty thousand yen out of it.” He shouted out. “Holy shite.” Drake said. “That’s awesome! We can really go all out with that kinda money!” Ann said happily. “Yeah! Let’s make up for what happened at the fireworks festival!” The blond smiled. 

“We gotta go eat something fittin’ for the Phantom Thieves’ worldwide debut!” He declared. “Where would be good?” Ann asked hungrily. “Ooh, how ‘bout sushi? I could really go for some eel too!” Ryuji suggested. The green-haired teen’s stomach growled out. Signaling that he was hungry. “Heh, I guess that works with me. I'm kinda starting to get hungry with all this talk about food.” He stated while rubbing his stomach. 

“The best method is to fill yourself on ginger before beginning to eat sushi. That is my master technique.” Yusuke said. Everyone looked at the blue haired teen. “You don’t need to do that this time. Actually, definitely don’t do it, okay?” Makoto told him. Drake shook his head. “Yusuke please don’t do that cause ginger is used for cooking different dishes and you’ll get sick if you eat too much of it. Hell, that's what happened to my family on Christmas.” He explained. “Yeah… probably best not to do that Yusuke.” Xander told the taller male while he looked at him. “I’m all for sushi! You’re okay with that too, right?” The feline smiled. Akira just chuckled and nodded. “Sushi’s fine.” He said. “Then it’s decided.” Morgana meowed out. “All right! We’ll go tomorrow night!” Ryuji said. Everyone nodded in agreement. 

*Time Skip: Evening*

Jaden and Xander were in the living room watching a random movie when they got a text on their phone.

[Phone convo]

Makoto: I wonder if that Medjed business was just a prank.

Makoto: Now that I think about it calmly, it’s strange that they haven’t actually done anything yet.

Makoto: If their goal is to target the Phantom Thieves, they should want to be acting now, given our fame.

Ann: Huh. When you put it that way, it kinda makes me wonder too.

Ann: Especially after they taunted us theatrically like that.

Yusuke: Yes, however, it would be best for us to come up with a countermeasure regardless.

Yusuke: For now though, we should cautiously enjoy the sushi. That is all we can do. 

Akira: Yeah.

Drake: I have to agree but, still…

Ryuji: But that’s no fun…

Makoto: Hm, Yusuke is right.

Makoto: I’m sorry for bringing this up. On the day before our celebration party too…

Ann: Cheer up, Makoto! We’ll be eating sushi like kings tomorrow!

Yusuke: I hope one person in particular is on their best behavior. I’ll refrain from saying who though.

Drake: I second that.

Xander: I third that.

Ryuji:...You better not be talking about me!

Jaden just started laughing after the text message was sent. “Damn, That’s too funny.” He said as he shook his head. “Well...who else would it be?” Xander mutters to himself causing Jaden to laugh even more. “HAHA, damn it dude why do you have to do tha-HAHAH!” The green-haired teen stated as he continued to laugh while trying to calm himself down. “Because I can.” Xander said with a smirk on his face while he watched his friend calm down from laughing. “Damn, it’s very rare to get me laughing like that, fuck.” Drake sighed. His friend shook his head at that statement. “I have done it several times.” Xander said while he looked down at the green-haired teen who was sitting on the floor by now.

*Time skip: 7/24: Daytime*

The next day, two people were standing around talking in what looked like a common area for a police building. One was a female wearing a black business suit and the other was a young male that was wearing his school's summer uniform with a striped tie. 

“You seem quite busy, Sae-san. I take it you’re stuck in the middle of everything?” The young man said. “The Phantom Thieves made a mockery of us when they brought down Kaneshiro… And to make matters worse, Medjed, who has been dormant for some time now, just declared war on them. How much more can they screw us over?” The woman, Sae, stated to the young man. “Stress is bad for the skin, you know.” The young man said to Sae with a smile. 

“Did you come all this way simply to be sarcastic?” The Sae young woman stated. “How about you listen to my deductions for a change of pace? You may think it absurd… But don’t you think the case you’re pursuing and the actions of Phantom Thieves overlap somehow?” The young man asked with a calm voice. “What are you basing this off of?” Sae asked, looking at him. “The one point of commonality across all cases is how those involved have an unforeseen change of heart.” He explained to her. 

“I’ve suspected that myself, but those suspicions are unfounded.” She told him. “I told you at the beginning that this was only a deduction. These ‘just’ Phantom Thieves are riling up the public. However, that is a disguise. Their true goal is terrorist action by way of psychotic breakdowns… Is that too much?” He asked her. “There’s nothing at the moment that falsifies that claim. Have you mentioned this to the police?” Sae asked him. “I’d never tell them such things. The only value I have to me is in their mobility and organizational capabilities.” The young man explained. The young woman turned and fully looked at him. 

“Hm, it seems having you lend me a hand has paid off.” She said to him. “I’m glad to hear that. What about your case, Sae-san? Did you learn anything from the guardian of that mental shutdown victim’s daughter?” He asked her. “Nothing at all.” She sighed out. “I see. Now, what should my next action be for our victory?” He said. “Handle the Phantom Thieves. Without remorse. Use any means necessary to win. That’s how I would deal with them.” Sae told him. 

“*Chuckle* Very well.” The light brunette said with a smile. “This seems to be fun for you. Are you on to something?” Sae asked him. He shook his head. “No, not all. Well then, to our victory.” He told her. The young light brunette male waked away leaving the young woman to herself. 

“*Groans*” Drake makes a noise as he is on the phone. Draco jumped in confusion. “Is Drake okay or...?” He asked Xander, who was sitting on the couch waiting for him. “Isn’t this him on a day to day basis?” Xander asked looking at the bearded dragon. “Well…” “Taka-kun, it’s fine. I’m just going to be with friends eating sushi.” Jaden-Drake told his older brother. 

“Well, I just want to know where you're going for the fact of Medjed. I’m worried since you're a part of the Phantom thieves, I just want to know that you're safe. Look, I know you're 16 and you’ve been here before, just be saAAAAfe- CHUNTA!!!” Takato yells through the phone. The three of them tried holding back laughter as they heard the black-haired male yell. “Make sure you're safe, kid. I don’t want Takato-sama to worry about you too much. You know how he can get it.” Junta said as he held Takato. 

“Hey. Don’t talk to my brother like that when I’m on the phone with him.” Takato yells a bit. “Huh, what are you talking about? What did I do wrong?” His lover asks. Drake chuckles at the two’s banter. “Okay, okay. I love you two bakas.” He chuckles as he hangs up on them. He sighed once he did so. “Man...Every day is getting harder and harder for him to worry less and less about me man.” He said as he shook his head. 

“Is he always like this?” Draco asked the green-haired human. “Most likely.” Xander answered for him. “Well, with that out of the way. Let’s go get  _ sushi _ !” The short male shouted. The others chuckled and shook their heads. They all walked out of the apartment and to the parking lot to get in Jaden’s car. 

*Time skip: Evening*

The Phantom Thieves were at the sushi bar eating their favorite dishes. “Man, the flounder is outta this world! That texture…” Ryuji drooled as he spoke. “I-I don’t see any prices listed here…” Yusuke said all worriedly. “It’s called market price. Don’t worry ‘bout it; we got the cash!” The blond male told the blue-haired male with his mouth full. Drake chuckled. 

“Man, I have never been to this type of place unless it was a buffet. It’s more cooler than I thought. Any thoughts, mate?” Drake asked his friend next to him. “This restaurant is nice.” Xander said as he ate. “Sooo gooooood…” Ann drooled while she ate. “Hey, is the fatty tuna ready yet?” Morgana said, wanting some fish. 

“Hold your horses. And don’t talk!” Ryuji told him. “Hey, he and I want our food.” Draco hissed at him. “We get it but you're not supposed to talk to you, butt.” Drake told the dragon off. “By the way, Akira-Kun... Is Boss really the kind of person who would abuse someone?” Makoto asked, looking at the black-hair male. 

“That again?” Ryuji puffed out. “I can’t get it off my mind. Especially if it means he could be taken to court…” The young brunette explained. “I understand and get what you're going on about but it’s something we can not help. Boss isn’t someone that seems like he would abuse someone.” Drake explained to her. “It’s very hard to be a bystander in a situation like this.” He sighed out as he continued to eat. “What kind of person is he? Do you truly believe he’d do such a thing?” She asked Akira. 

“No chance.” Akira shook his head. “He doesn’t seem like the type.” Drake nodded in agreement. “I have to agree with Akira with that. Even though I worked with him for almost about a month I don’t sense that he is a bad person.” The green-haired teen explained. “If it’s really true about the abuse, he’d be a no-good jerk pretendin’ to be a guardian.” Ryuji told them. 

“Maybe the chief is the one who needs a change of heart…” Morgana meowed out. “Ooo, I agree with that.” Draco hissed out to the feline. “Wait, it might be too early to jump to conclusions about Boss’s behavior.” Xander said, putting his hand up, stopping the group a bit. “*sighs* We are.” Drake nodded. “Hold on a sec! About that… I actually got curious after our conversation… and checked his name in the Nav.” Ann explained. “Sounds to me like there wasn’t a hit.” Makoto said. “Right. Anything beyond this is his family’s problem. We probably shouldn’t get any more involved.” Ann explained. Drake nodded. “That’s basically what I’ve been saying this whole time.” He said as he put salmon sushi in his mouth. “Wait… You think Alibaba could be Boss’s ex-wife!?” Ryuji stated. 

Everyone looked at him with questioning looks. “He musta cheated on her, and that’s where Futaba came from.” Ryuji explained his reasoning. “Doubtful.” Ann said. The green-haired teen slowly looked at him. “This is one of the reasons why I question a lot of men’s brains sometimes.” Jaden states while shaking his head. “Your imagination has run rampant.” Makoto states with closed eyes. “How foolish.” Yusuke says agreeing with the two of them. 

Akira nodded in agreement while Ryuji looked away. After that, they all went back to eating their food. “Still, this is delicious. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it before.” Yusuke said with a small smile. “Hmm, I’m going to agree with you, mate.” Drake said. “Man, and it’s all thanks to us bein’ the Phantom Thieves-” Ryuji was about to finish when he cut himself once he saw everyone looking up. 

Drake tried to hold back his laughter. “Crap.” Ryuji said. “U-ummm… Ph-Phan… Fantastic! This sushi is delicious!” Makoto said, trying to make a quick save. “Y-yeah! The fish is so fresh!” Ann said, making a quick statement to save her. “Hmph. Everywhere we go, we hear about these Phantom Thieves.” An arrogant sounding woman said, looking at the man right next to her. “What rubbish.” The haughty man that was sitting next to the arrogant woman said. 

“Think about where we are, Ryuji.” The light blond female scolds at the yellowish blond male. “Sorry, it just kinda slipped…” Ryuji told her. “Think before you speak, boi.” The short, green-haired teen explained. Xander looks towards his friend. Drake looked back. “What?...It’s true.” He defended himself. Xander keeps on staring at him. He hints for the fact that Jaden also does the same thing. “Oh, wait hey!” “My apologies for bringing up Boss again. We should just enjoy the food.” Makoto said. Everyone went back to eating their food.

The group finished up their meal and went out of the sushi place. “Xander and I will meet you guys at Leblanc, seeing that I don’t want to leave my car anywhere.” Drake told them. “Unless you want to go with them, mate, then I don’t mind.” He said looking at Xander. “I will tag along with you.” Xander told his shorter friend as he shrugged. Drake nodded with a statement. Akira looked at Jaden and smiled. “Alright, we’ll see you at Leblanc text me when you get there. So we know that you guys are safe.” Akira said to them.  _ I really don’t want anything bad to happen to you.  _ He thought to himself. 

Drake chuckled and walked over to pat his head. “We’ll be fine. It’s not like in America where a lot of people were shitty drivers...Well, I can’t really say that.” He mumbled to himself as he patted his taller friend's head. Akira blushed as he watched Jaden pat his head with a bright smile on his face. Akira chuckled as he watched Jaden mutter to himself. 

He grabbed Drake’s hand so he could stop patting his head. Drake stopped talking to himself when he felt a hand on his hand. He looked up and saw Akira holding his hand and blushed. Akira still held his hand as he put their hands down to their sides. They stayed like that for a few more moments. “Um, dudes?” Ryuji said after a few more seconds of the two of them holding hands. 

Both teens realized what was happening and quickly got their hands away from each other blushing while doing so. “Um, Well...See you at Leblanc...Bye!” Jaden blushed as he ran straight to his car leaving a blushing Akira behind with a very confused group of friends. Xander smirked to himself seeing that he now has teasing material. “See you guys later.” He waved off as he grabbed Drake’s bag with Draco in it and followed the blushing Drake. 

The rest of the group were at the subway station when they heard a young male’s voice. “Niijima-san! What are you doing here?” A familiar-looking pleasant boy approached the group. “Akechi-kun…” Makoto said, turning to face Akechi. “Akechi?” Ryuji stated as he turned to look at Akechi. Ann and Akira followed after him. “You’re the ones from the TV station...Could it be that you’re friends of Niijima-san?” The young man asked them. 

Yusuke turns around to face him and the group. “Do you know this guy?” He asked the rest of the group. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Akechi. Glad to make your acquaintance, Yusuke Kitagawa.” He told the tall, dark blue-haired male. “How do you know my name?” Yusuke asks Akechi. “Well, because I’m a psychic, of course.” The light brunette told him with a smile. “Haha, I’m only joking. In truth, I’m a rookie detective. You’re a former pupil of Madarame, right?” He explained with a small smile. 

“I have actually just recently joined the investigation team looking into the Phantom Thieves. Did you see that Medjed has declared war on them?” He asked the group. “War?” Ryuji asked. “Their website was updated just a moment ago.” He stated to them. “For real?!” The vulgar blond asked. Ryuji took out his phone to check the website. “English again…” He groaned out as he checked the website. Ann took out her phone so she could read the post. 

“Wait what!?” Ann shouted as she looked at the post. “What’s it say!?” The blond male asked her. “Hm? Why do you seem so agitated?” Akechi asked the two of them. “Oh, um…” Ann started to think of something to say. “She’s, uh… a huge fan of the Phantom Thieves. A total nutjob for ‘em.” Ryuji quickly stated saving Ann at the last moment. 

“Hm, I don't know how wise it is to be a fan of groups like them.” The light brunette male said. “What is with these comments?” Makoto asked, looking at him with a stern look. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to butt into your conversation. But I must say, this is an interesting group. Prosecutor Niijma’s sister, an ex-pupil of Madarame, and a few Shujin Academy students… It seems you’re all connected to the Phantom Thieves. Perhaps you have better intel than I do. Ah, yes. I wanted to ask you something.” He said looking at the group. The group looked at him right after he said that. 

“Regarding this whole Medjed commotion… If you were one of the Phantom Thieves, what would you do?” Akechi asked them. “Ignore them.” Akira told him with just a single answer. “That is unexpected… Only a small minority of people believe that is the best decision.” Akechi said. “Sorry to disappoint, but we’re just normal high school kids. If anything, we wanna hear what you gotta say, Mr. Detective.” Ryuji said in a condescending tone. 

“...My profiling of the Phantom Thieves has led me to believe they are a group of juveniles. They have a relative amount of free time after and a hideout to slip away to.” Akechi explained to them. “Furthermore, considering Kamoshida was their first target, it seems they began activity around April. In a way, all I’ve said about the Phantom Thieves coincides with the group you have here.” He finished off looking at the group with a strange face. “What, you gonna report us? This isn’t even the full group, the rest are waiting for us.” Ryuji said but regrets saying the last bit as soon as he said it. “Shit.” He cursed quietly. “Ryuji.” Ann quietly scolded at him. 

“So you have other friends that are part of this group. Interesting. Also, I didn’t say I was being suspicious of you.” Akechi said. “Good to hear.” Akira told him. “Hahaha, it seems you’re not perturbed in the slightest. You really are an intriguing one. I lack your calm mannerisms… but don’t you think my deduction is an interesting one? I bet we’d make a great team if we worked together.” He chuckled out with a wink. “What!? The hell’re you sayin’!?” Ryuji snapped at him. 

“Well, this has been a valuable point of reference for me. I hope to see you all again. And I wish to meet those other friends of yours.” Akechi stated. He then walked off leaving a very confused group behind. “What was that about?” Ann asked as soon as the group turned around to look at each other. “Do you think he’s ascertained our true identities?” Yusuke asked them. “Nah, couldn’t be. Right?” The blond male said. 

“I’d like to say that it’s simply us overthinking this, but… it may be best to be cautious from now on. We shouldn’t forget that Alibaba was able to discover who we are.” Makoto explained. “True, but it’s not as though he had tangible evidence to prove that discovery. Just keep acting normally.” Yusuke said. “More importantly, things are getting serious with Medjed!” The light blond female stated. 

“Oh yeah! What’d they write!?” Ryuji asked her. “Here I’ll read it… ‘We are disappointed in the people of Japan and their belief in the Phantom Thieves’ false justice. Hence, we shall proceed with our plan to cleanse Japan. This process will commence on August 21st. As a result, the Japanese economy shall suffer devastating damages.” Ann finished reading that part of the post. “For real…?” The blond male said. “Keep going.” Makoto told her. 

“‘However, we are magnanimous. We will give the Phantom Thieves one final opportunity to repent. As proof of this repentance, we demand that they reveal their identities to be public. We will attack if these demands remain unmet. The future of Japan rests with the Phantom Thieves. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil…’ That’s what it says.” Ann finished. “Sounds bad…” Ryuji said. 

“In other words, if we don’t unmask ourselves, Medjed will attack Japan… correct? It seems they are quite the attention seekers...” Yusuke stated. “What are we gonna do about this?” Ann asked. “If only we could get in contact with Alibaba.” Makoto said to her group. “Our only clues... are Boss and Futaba. Anyways, it’s too damn hot out here. Why don’t we head to Leblanc already? We can talk more over there.” Ryuji explained. They all nodded as Akira texted Xander to explain to Drake and Draco what was going on. 

Xander and Jaden-Drake were very close to Leblanc. Joking around in the car when Xander got a text. “Well, this is bad.” He stated as he looked at his phone. “What? What is bad?” The green-haired teen asked as he looked at the road. “Medjed is claiming that if the Phantom Thieves don’t unmask themselves the future will be very grim.” He explained to him. “WHAT!?” Draco and Drake shouted in unison as Drake quickly slammed on the brakes as soon as he heard that, causing Xander’s seat belt to tighten up on him and Draco to almost fly out. 

His face was shown with shock and was as white as a ghost. “Be careful. Dude.” Xander shouted at Jaden. “Yeah. Sorry, but what the hell...This is like America all over again.” He sighed as he hit his head on the steering wheel. “Just don’t act as aggressively.” Xander sighed as he fixed his glasses and seating position. “Yeah...You're right...Geez” He sighed as his friend shook his head. “It’s just, how the hell are we going to handle it this time?” He begins with his eyes on the road again. 

“Last time we barely made it out cause we ended up turning their heart around. This time though we don’t know who they really are...Man...this is going to be tougher than what I was really hoping for.” The old Hidden Ones’ leader signed out from the memory of stress that the team and himself endured. “I don’t know what to tell you. We just have to wait to see what happens.” Xander explained calming his friend down. The other nodded and sighed. 

“Yeah...yeah you're right...sometimes I wonder why you didn’t become the leader of the Hidden Ones.” The green-haired teen sighed as his other friend chuckled. “You know that I like working behind the curtains while you enjoy the spotlight.” He smiled at him while Draco chuckled. “There is also the fact that you have more experience with being a leader than anyone that was a part of our group.” Draco smiled at Jaden. Drake chuckled after hearing that. “Huh, that’s true.” 

Once Drake and Xander drove up to a parking spot and headed towards Leblanc. Drake sighed as they walked in to see the group was already there. “We went through all sortsa options on our way here, but… Looks like we got no choice but to ask for Alibaba’s help.” Ryuji said to the others. “Question is how do we get in touch with him?” Ann asked with a look of defeat. “He cut off all contact with us after that misunderstanding. Then again, if we manage to steal Futaba’s heart, he may attempt to reach out to us once more.” Yusuke explained. 

“But we don’t have any clues on what her keywords are.” Morgana stated. “Dammit, Alibaba! Where the hell are you!?” Ryuji yells out in frustration. “Actually, he may be closer than we think.” Makoto said. “Huh?” Ryuji questioned. “How so?” Xander asked, looking at her. “Hypothetically speaking, even if we stole Futaba’s heart...How would Alibaba know that the deed has been done? Would he truly be able to discern that just from cell phone messages?” Makoto asks. Everyone looked at each other. “You mean he’d have to meet her in person?” Morgana asked. 

“Alibaba was able to deliver the calling card here. On top of that, he can check on Futaba’s condition. However, according to the circumstances he put forth, he’s unable to meet with us. This leads me to believe that if it would be bad for him if we were to see the two of them together. It seems to me that...Alibaba may in fact be Futaba herself.” Makoto explained to the group. “For real!?” Ryuji asked in shock. 

“So she’s asking that we steal her own heart!?” Yusuke asked in surprise. “I’m going to say this...I am not surprised one bit.” Drake signed out with a huff. “Maybe she wants us to save her from the scars of her abuse? That would be hard to ask directly.” Ann said. “I’d like to meet with Boss… He lives nearby, right?” Makoto said. Drake and Xander look at each other. Draco shakes his little head a bit. “I know where his house is.” Akira said. 

“I agree. It’s real late though. What’re we gonna tell Boss when we get there?” Ryuji asked her. “We’ll say this take-out sushi is a gift for him.” Makoto said. “But my fatty tuna…!” Morgana shouted. Draco hissed a bit. “Don’t give him any of my fish.” Drake sighed. “I don’t think this is a real good idea. I understand that we need to help her but going into Boss’s private life. Now that is just wrong on so many levels.” Drake shook his head as he looked at the group. 

As much as he knew it was true that they needed to know, it just didn't feel right to him. He can’t really describe it, but something was telling him that something bigger was at play. He sighed as he heard Ann speak up. “No complaining.” She looked at the three of them. “Let’s all go together. Boss may get the wrong idea if Akira-kun and I show up alone.” Makoto said to them. Everyone nods. 

_ I still don’t think this is a good idea at all. But what choice do I have in the matter anyways. _ Drake thinks to himself. Xander notices his friend's concern. “This is our only way of knowing Futaba, like it or not.” Xander said to his friend as they walked out. Drake sighed and shook his head. 

*Time skip: Boss’s place*

Yusuke rang the doorbell near Sojiro’s door, but nobody came...again. “Nobody is answering, but the lights are on...” Makoto stated. “Maybe he thinks we are marketers.” Drake joked to the whole group. “Think she’s nappin’?” Ryuji said. “Even Boss would’ve woken up with how many times we’ve rung this doorbell.” Ann said annoyed. “I would think Futaba would have answered by now if she were here too.” Morgana sighed. 

“Ah, the gate is unlocked.” Yusuke pointed out. “Dude, you can’t go openin’ other people’s stuff like that.” Ryuji stated to Yusuke. “But look. The door seems to be slightly open as well. I wonder why. That’s rather careless...” The brunette said with confusion. After she said that a thunderous noise was heard from the sky. 

The Phantom Thieves looked up at the sky a little. “Whoa, it sounds like it’s going to rain...We should get inside!” The black feline stated with a serious voice. “...Do you think that’s okay?” Makoto asked. “Prolly?” Ryuji asked. Drake just shrugged. “I used to do this with abandoned houses when I was still trainin-AH.” He was cut off by Xander elbowing him in the gut. 

“Gonna rain for quite a while. Might as well go in.” Xander shrugged, then glared at him, who’s tempting to flip him off. “My apologies, Boss!” Makoto whispers. Six of the Phantom Thieves walked inside quickly while the other two fell behind in a slow walk. “WTF! Why did you elbow me, mate?” Drake whispered so the others wouldn’t hear. “Would they not be suspicious if you were in abandoned houses?” Xander scolded back at him. 

The green-haired teen shook his head and sighed. “Whatever.” He mumbled while rolling his eyes. “Hello, sir?” Makoto said. They waited for an answer from him only to get nothing in return. “He’s not out, is he?” Makoto asked. “The door ahead is open, and I can hear the TV.” 

“I hope he didn’t pass out or something… I mean, Boss is kinda old, ain’t he?” Ryuji told them. “I’m a bit worried. Should we go in and check on him?” Ann asked. “I have no clue if that is a good or bad idea considering the fact we did enter without anyone’s permission, but might as well ‘cause if we don’t, I know for a fact that I will later regret it if we don’t.” Jaden sighed out.  _ For the fact that I have morals of making sure everyone is alright and well _ . He thought to himself. “Please excuse us…” Makoto stated nervously. 

They walked further inside the house to look for any sign of life. The group continued until they heard the sound of thunder, the lights turning off following afterwards. “AAAAAA!!!” Both Ann and a young female screeched. Draco, Jaden-Drake, and Ann jumped a little after hearing that. “Meep.” Drake meeped. “A scream!? What was that!?” Makoto questioned in fear. “H-How should I know?” Morgana scarcely asked. 

A few seconds after the black feline said that and the grouped calmed down, just by a little bit, they heard a thud coming from somewhere near them. “Did you hear that!?” The brunette asked the group in a scared voice. “H-Hai…” Drake said in all but a whisper rubbing both of his two arms. “What could it be?” Xander asked, looking around. “Let’s get out of here, please? Can we just go?” Ann the others terrified. “What’re you freakin’ out for?” Ryuji asked her annoyedly. 

“I-I-I’m not freaking out!” Ann said with a stutter at the beginning. “W-well it’s either this or the rain. I rather choose being freaked out a little bit rather than being soaked.” Draco hissed out at her with a beady eye glare. “Could it be Alibaba? I mean, Futaba?” The blue eye feline stated. Right after Morgana said that Ann ran back down the hallway past Jaden, Xander, and Draco who all shook their heads as they walked down with Yusuke and Ryuji. 

Drake sighed as he started calming down from being freaked out.  _ Maybe I can ask Akira if I can just stand behind him or next to him at least? _ He thought to himself. “Um, sorry… Can I hold your hand?” He heard the older female ask the taller male. Drake froze in place when he heard that. He turned around to see Makoto holding on to Akira’s upper arm. He sighed as he shook his head. 

_ Man, I wanted to do that...Great... _ Drake pouted with a soft sigh.  _ Can’t always get what you want, I guess. _ He thinks as he walks next to Xander. Next, they heard a door creak opened. “Eek!” The brunette screams screeched. Jaden, Xander, and Draco shivered a bit. 

“I can sense someone’s presence…” Yusuke said. “I have to agree.” Draco said. “Who is it?” Makoto asked with a hushed worried voice. At first, she looked at her leader then to another side of the room. “Who’s there!?” This time she was even more freaked out. “I can’t take this anymore! I’m leaving!” She yelled out of fear. 

After she stated that there was a noise coming from somewhere that they didn’t know. Makoto slipped down after hearing that. Drake was looking everywhere for the noise while pulling out his kunai slowly. Xander looks around as well and pulls out one of his daggers. Makoto tried getting up but she couldn’t get up. “N-No… My legs won’t move..” she stated out of fear. 

All of a sudden Makoto, Akira, and Morgana felt a presence behind them. They slowly turned their heads to see a dark figure with big white refelted eyes. The next thing everyone knew, lightning flashed revealing a girl with black-framed glasses and orange-colored hair. Even if that was the case, it still terrifies the living daylights out of Makoto. “Aaaaaah!” Both the brunette and the girl screamed causing the girl to run back into the room. Right when Makoto screamed she fell onto the floor and held onto Akira’s leg. 

“Alibaba! Futaba!” Ann yelled to the girl while Makoto quivered. Drake put his kunai away so he can cover his ears from all the girls yelling.  _ Thankfully I’m not freaked out anymore...but I am now going to go deaf because of the screams.  _ He sighed to himself. “Hey! C’mon, where are you!?” She shouts at where the girl once stood. Xander shakes his head as his shorter friend takes his hands off his ears and checks if Draco was alright. 

The poor bearded dragon was curled way back into the bag thanks to all the yelling by both girls. “You’re a hacker, right? Just show yourself!” Ann yelled again. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry! PleasesavemeSis…” Makoto stated in a whimper. Drake saw the situation at hand.  _ Fuck, I got to do something to calm the girls down so that way Draco isn’t scared. Poor little guy.  _ Before the green-hair teen can say anything to try to defuse the situation there was a voice that came from behind them. “Are you okay, Futaba!?” The voice of Sojiro yells through the front door. 

“Crap, he’s home!” Ryuji said. Both him and Yusuke ran down that hall with Ann following right behind them. Drake, Xander, Akira, and Makoto stayed where they were with Drake facepalming as soon as Sojiro opened the door and ran partly in. He looked down the hallway, seeing a group of shadowy figures. Unaware of who they were, Sojiro becomes defensive. “Who the hell are you!? Don’t move!” He yelled at them.

“You hear me!?” Sojiro yelled again. Drake and Xander were just shaking their head at the situation, as Boss turned the flashlight that was in his hand. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msosorrySis...Somebodypleasesaveme…” Makoto kept on repeating. She hadn’t yet noticed Sojiro, who had entered the room. 

Sojiro realized who they were and calmed down. “You? What’re you doing in my house?” He asked them. “Ah…” Makoto finally calmed down and realized the situation that they were in. Drake just sighed as he mentioned Xander that they stay put. “You’re…” The older man was trying to find something to say but was interrupted by Makoto. 

“Oh… G-Good… evening, sir… We… didn’t mean… to intrude.” The brunette stated. “Niijima-san!” The black-haired adult said as he looked at her. “Wait, are you two dating?” He asks the both of them. Drake looks in between the to and tries to hold back a bit of laughter. Xander watches and does the same. The young brunette shook her head. “W-We’re j-just friends!” She exclaims. Akira nodded and agreed with her as he slid glances to Drake who was still trying not to laugh. 

“Friends nowadays get that close to each other?” He asks them. Drake just loses it and starts laughing a bit at the whole situation finding a funny story to tell his mom later. “That’s not it! This, um...Things happened… and..” She tried explaining the situation as she was getting up from the floor. As she did so Drake started laughing at the situation. Drake calmed down once the others walked in. “You kids are here too!?” He asks the rest of the group.

Ann was the first to speak before Drake had a chance to after he was calm enough to speak. “Um, we brought you some sushi, but nobody answered when we rang the bell… The door was unlocked too.” The blond female explained quickly, continuing as she continued explaining. “We could hear the TV though, so we got worried you might have passed out or something…”

After she finished Sojiro looked at them confused. “The door was unlocked?” He asked them. “Yes.” Ann told him. “...I do that sometimes. Guess I’m getting old.” He sighed. “Aw. Don’t worry about it. My family is like that sometimes as well.” Drake explained with a smile. Xander nodded in agreement with that statement. “Well, that makes me feel less old then.” He chuckles at that. “Um, excuse me. There’s something we’d like to ask.” Makoto said to the gray-eyed adult.

Sojiro turns his attention to the young brunette again. “Hm? You wanna ask me?” He asked her. Makoto looks back to where the girl once stood. “There’s someone else living here… isn’t there?” She asked. “Yeah…” The older man with glasses paused for a moment. “My daughter” He finally said. “Could she be Futaba Sakura?” Makoto asked.

“You told Niijma-san too!?” Sojiro asked Akira a bit loudly in front of the others. Akira was looking down the whole time while Jaden had moved next to him and put Draco near Morgana to calm him down. “U-Um… is there any way we could meet with Futaba-san?” The brunette asked the adult. “I think we may have frightened her earlier, so we’d like to apologize if at all possible…” She explained. “Well… that’s…” He crossed his arms and closed his eyes trying to think of a way to explain.

Everyone was looking at Sojiro. “Is she sick?” Makoto asked him. “No, it’s not like that.” Sojiro stated, answering her question. Everyone stood around for a short moment as he shook his head and sighed. “I don’t want you all getting the wrong idea…” He explained to them. The older male sighed again. “I shouldn’t have kept this a secret from you.” He told the group of teens in front of them. “Let’s talk at my shop. She’ll hear us if we stay here.” They all nodded and followed him to Leblanc.

*At Leblanc*

Everyone stood or sat around Sojiro who had pulled up a cheer that was at his bar. “Now, where do I start? Futaba’s mother and I knew each other long before Futaba was born. Her mother was a bit of a weird one, but we got along well for some reason…” He explained to them as he continued. “She was sharp-witted, somewhat stern, a little socially inept, but always carefree… She truly was a great woman.” He smiled to himself as he explained.

“I see…” Makoto said. “When something piqued her interest, that’d be all she focused on. She always worked deep into the night. I thought that’d change after her kid was born, but after having Futaba didn’t do much.” He explained. Drake chuckled a bit after he heard that. “If I’m going to be honest here that sounds like how my mom gets when she finds something she's very interested in.” The green-haired teen explained with a soft smile on his face. Sojiro chuckles a bit after hearing that. “It sounds like Her and your mother would have gotten along just fine.”

Drake nodded after hearing that. “I’m sure they would have, sir.” He smiled as Sojiro continued. “Even with that, she always took good care of her.” He finished that off. “Working and watching over a child at the same time sounds rough…” Ann said, sounding sorry for Futaba’s mom. “I guess raising Futaba alone turned out to be tough on her in more ways than one…” Boss explained. “What about her father? Didn’t he at least try to help her in all of this?” Akira asked him with a few side glances in Drake's direction as he asked that. “There wasn’t a father.” Sojiro bluntly told them.

“Do you mean…” Yusuke asked while Jaden looked at him with a ‘Really, that’s the question to ask him right now’ look. “Well, there probably was one. I didn’t know him though. She never said a word about him, either. She was single when she gave birth to Futaba, and single when she raised her. They were an ordinary, loving family. You could really tell how much she cared for Futaba.” He sighs after stating that.

His face expression became more upset after he sighed. “But one day, she left… leaving Futaba behind.” Sojiro said to the group. “Did she die…?” Akira asked him with a sadden expression. The older adult male took a deep breath before speaking again. “Yes. She committed suicide.” He said softly but still loud enough for everyone to hear. “Suicide...!?” Ann said in shock. “Holy crud.” Drake said with a widened upset expression.

“Threw herself into the street, right in front of Futaba’s eyes…” Boss explained the upsetting news to the teens. Drake froze in thought for a second right after he heard the fact. “Shocking doesn’t begin to describe that…” Makoto stated with her jaw dropped. “That’s gotta be devastating for a kid.” Ryuji stated. “Yeah, the death of any family member is devastating, especially to a kid.” Xander sighed. “So…” Sojiro began, thinking of something else to say.

“Well, a lot happened after that, but I ended up taking custody of Futaba… First, she was so depressed she...she wouldn’t even talk to me.” Sojiro explained. “Was that because she couldn’t get over her mother’s suicide?” Ann asked him. “I kept talking to her though, and she started opening up to me little by little. That’s when I found out… Futaba blames herself for her mother’s death.” He explained to them. “What!? But why!?” Ann asked in shock. 

“That part she’s never told me. I wanted to know what led her to believing that, but I decided not to rub salt in the wound.” He explained. “Then, a few months ago… She started getting real scared, even when nothing was happening. She’d say things like, ‘I hear voices…’ and ‘Mom is looking at me…’” He told them. “Visual and auditory hallucinations… Have you taken Futaba to a doctor?” Yusuke asked Sojiro. “I wanted to, but she refused. Even when I had a doctor come, she locked herself away in her room. Since then, she’s become what you’d call a shut-in.” He explained to them.

“She won’t take a single step outside the house or even try to see other people.” He stated. “What about you?” Yusuke asked standing up more and turning to him. “She doesn’t even let me come into her room.” Sojiro tells them. “That’s pretty harsh…” Ryuji said. “Futaba is, well, a unique girl. She’s so quick-minded that conversations with her tend to jump from one topic to the next… It seems like she’s always coming to conclusions in her head. There’s a lot I don’t get about her...” He said. 

Makoto nodded to Boss’ statement about his daughter. “So yeah… her situation is why I couldn’t let you in my house.” He explains to Akira while he turns towards him. “Don’t worry about it. You had your reasons, so I understand.” Akira explained to him. “Thanks.” Sojiro smiled at the black-haired teen. “What Futaba needs is a safe where nobody will threaten her. Somewhere she can be at ease. That’s why I won’t do anything she doesn’t want. I don’t make her do anything she’s unwilling to either.” He states as he gets up to stand from his seat.

“Then again, I know that’s no way for her to live. It’s all I can do though…” He said with an upset look. “What does Futaba want?” Akira asks him. “I’m going to agree with Akira on this. Do you truly know what Futaba wants from her point of view and a parent’s point of view?” Drake asks, looking at the older male. “I don’t know. She just asks me for things that she wants, like food or these complicated books… Well, that’s that. So can you just… leave her be?” Sojiro asks the teens around him. They all nodded in agreement. Well not all of them. Drake sighed as he heard Sojiro’s explanation. 

_ Like we’re going to... We need to help her… No teen should be shut in to believe that they were the cause of her mother’s death.  _ Drake thought as he looked to the side of him. “I’m gonna head back then. You all had better head home soon too.” He tells them looking at each of them. He then walks past Akira, Makoto, Jaden-Drake, and Xander. Once he left, Akira took the seat that Sojiro was just sitting on and sits down. Drake walks up and stands behind him leaning in just a bit.

“I feel awful for prying into his personal affairs…” Makoto stated. “No way in hell he’s abusin’ her.” Ryuji stated. “The reason why Futaba wants her heart stolen must be related to what happened to her mother.” Ann claimed. “So, she’d like to discard her feelings of pain, but can’t do anything about it herself.” Yusuke said, adding to the conversation. “Will changing her heart really help her, though?” Ann asked looking off somewhere. “If we can help her, we may be able to stand up to Medjed.” Yusuke stated, standing up. 

Drake sighed as he thought about it.  _ Not everything is easy to fix.  _ “Maybe changing her heart will help her out, but having her help us out right after helping her is kinda of a dick move if you think about it.” The green-haired teen explained. “It makes us seem selfish.” He sighed out. “But we are in a tough situation, we do need her help.” Xander said. “Still…” Drake sighed out while looking at everybody. “It’s possible, but I believe we should have a better plan.” Akira sighed. “Hold on a sec. Do we even know if she has a Palace? Let’s check.” Ryuji said.

Akira took out his phone to the Nav to see if Futaba did have a Palace. “‘The Futaba Sakura that lives at Sojiro Sakura’s house.’ Is that gonna be enough?” The blond male. “ **_Candidate Found_ ** ” The nav said after Akira put the name in. “What the…?” Yusuke asked in shock. “She’s got one...” Ryuji stated with widened eyes. “So someone can have a Palace even if they’re not evil?” Ann asked with shocked confusion. “Hmm, yeah. We knew someone that had a Palace but they were the nicest person you’d ever meet.” Drake started as he motioned between him and Xander. 

“Oh... that one.” Xander said, remembering the Palace. “Hey Morgana-” Ann was about to talk to the black feline but as the group looked around themselves, they didn’t see him. “Where’s Morgana?” The light blue-eye female asked as Mona was nowhere to be found. “I haven’t seen him for some time.” Yusuke stated. “So, ever since we went inside Boss’s house?” Makoto asks. “...Somewhere ‘round there. He’ll be fine though. He’s a cat after all. The trains’re gonna be shuttin’ down for the night soon, so we should prolly be headin’ home.” Ryuji said.

Everyone nodded in agreement to Ryuji’s statement. “We have to go to school in the morning, after all.” Makoto told them. “Ohhh, right. The urgent assembly.” Ann groaned. “Tomorrow is going to suck then.” Draco said with a sigh. “Now I wish Morgana was here. Hmph” Drake rolled his eyes at the dragon. “An assembly? What about?” Yusuke asked. “Shujin has been garnering a lot of attention ever since Medjed called out the Phantom Thieves.” Ann sighed out while explaining. 

“So, they need to remind us not to say arbitrary stuff online and add more fuel to the fire.” She finished. “We’ve gotta meet up for every goddamn little thing. Talk about a pain in the ass.” Ryuji stated, annoyed. “I mean, it is our fault.” Ann said sadly. “It really isn’t. They’re just trying to find the littlest excuse to explain to us what we should do and shouldn’t do. I understand that the rules are different from an American public school but they’re still looking for an excuse to explain what we already know.” Jaden explained with a heavy sigh.

Xander just shrugged and shook his head. “Might as well go with the flow… I guess.” He sighed out. “Anyway, let’s contact each other afterward.” Makoto said.

\\\\\\\

////

‘No way in hell he’s abusin’ her.’ The recording of Ryuji’s voice stated. During their discussion the orange-haired girl listens in while typing on her computer. ‘The reason why Futaba wants her heart stolen must be related to what happened to her mother.’ ‘So she’s like to discard her feelings of pain, but can’t do anything about it herself.’ ‘Will changing her heart really help her, though?’ ‘If we can help her we may be able to stand up to Medjed.’ ‘Maybe changing her heart will help her out, but having her help us out right after helping her is kinda of a dick move if you think about it.’ 

‘It makes us seem selfish.’ ‘But we are in a tough situation, we do need her help.’ ‘Still…’ ‘It’s possible, but I believe we should have a better plan.’ ‘Hold on a sec. Do we even know if she has a Palace? Let’s check. “The Futaba Sakura that lives at Sojiro Sakura’s house.” Is that gonna be enough?’ ‘What the…?’ ‘She’s got one..’ ‘So someone can have a Palace even if they’re not evil?’ ‘Hmm, yeah. We knew someone that had a Palace but they were the nicest person you’ll ever meet.’ 

‘Oh... that one.’ ‘Hey, Morgana-’ Right after the recording of Ann saying the feline's name, he jumped out from behind the computer, causing Futaba to yell and Morgana run out the door. 

////

\\\\\\\

Jaden-Drake, Xander, and Draco were all in the front seat of Drake’s Impala. It was silent at first while they were getting home from Leblanc. “Alright... So you guys never told me why you guys can’t tell the others why you're so skilled and know a lot more than you're leading on…” Draco paused biting his lower lizard lip looking for the right way to put it. “You're also keeping the others hidden from them including  _ Him _ … You need to open up to them...they're really nice to us.” Drake took a deep breath and sighed.

He looked over at Xander. “He’s right, mate... We told each other we wouldn’t keep secrets from them but we are...so why are we?” Drake asked, fully looking at him after he stopped at a red light. Xander looked out the window for a bit before he spoke. “It’s rather difficult for us to be open right away, we have only known them for a few months. I am just trying to be safe.” Xander explained to the both of them. “It’s not right man...they give us so much trust so far and what have we given them...little to none. Hell, we can’t even tell the people we like that we like them because of it... We have to tell them!” Drake yelled as he looked back at the road and drove since the light was green. 

Drake's eyes were starting to water due to the fact that he wants to be with Akira so badly. Xander looked at him full view now. His eyes flash from his light brown eyes to a brownish gold eye color to back to his original color. “It just… people are too unpredictable, you could have your arms open to someone and a few days later they could stab you in the back and take everything from you. I had that happen to me and I… I…just don’t want that to happen to any of us.” Xander shot back at his friend.

He was met with a dirty glare as they made it to their parking lot. “And you think you're the only one. I had that happen to me twice. TWICE!! And you already were a part of the second one...So do you think I don’t know or don't understand. Hell, I had my cousin because of this whole same situation. I don’t want that to happen again.” The green-haired male told him, reminding him why there wasn’t a third person. He was getting really upset. He stopped the engine of the car and grabbed his bag with the partly scared bearded dragon in it.

Draco went deeper into the school bag to avoid the two humans arguing. Xander huffed as he got out as well and shot a glare at his short friend. “I… know… such a thing… experiencing… hell.” Xander said, starting to act differently than from, his usual self. Drake looked and rolled his eyes.  _ WTF is going on!?  _ Drake thought, not realizing what was going on. “Well, it’s not like you’ve experienced it twice in your life or even have your own clan brother, who was supposed to be the leader, backstab your trust when he knew that he could trust your family here. But no, he wants you to continue your training in New York than to follow your late Sensei’s last wishes.” The multicolor-eye teen snapped back at them as they walked into their apartment building.

Once they were inside, they went into the elevator as they continued to argue. “I… know. We…all experienced things that we didn’t want to…” Xander stated, struggling to keep himself from switching. Both of his friends noticed this as they got to their floor and headed straight towards their shared apartment. “I get it dude, but you're making it about yourself and that is not a good thing to do seeing that we both transferred here for a better start and a better life.” Drake states as he unlocks the door.

“We need to let go and find a different path in life.” He put Draco down on the kitchen counter and turned towards his friend. “I mean, it’s not like we’ve killed anyone we really care about in the past. It’s just that we-” With a blink of an eye Xander had a dagger at Jaden’s neck. “Didn’t kill anyone we cared about you say? Anyone we cared about you say?! I ENDED UP KILLING MY OWN SON!!! I  _ WATCH  _ as his eyes started to go pale. Do you know how it feels? As you are trying to kill someone in order to protect your son. As that man pushes you into sinking a dagger into your son’s heart!? DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS!?!?” 

Drake's eyes widened as he fully realized that his friend wasn’t there in that moment in time. He wasn’t fully scared, seeing that this has happened before with others including this man, but never like this. He raises his hands up to where his head was. “Bayek please calm down. I didn’t know that you killed your son but please that was in the past and I am sorry for bringing it up like this.” The short teen stated calmly trying to reason with his friend's other personality. 

“You don't know how it is to have your own family’s blood spilt by your own hands. I had to  _ KILL _ every… single… one of those bastards that breathed that day in Siwa.” The voice of Bayek said looking at the teen straight into his eyes. The teen sighed a bit and looked around to find a way to escape until his eye landed on the bearded dragon on the counter. His eyes widen in fear of what they just did. 

“Listen, I know how it feels to lose a family member but you need to let go of me because we are scaring someone very close to us.” Drake stated as he motioned to the terrified creature on the counter. “What are yo- oh… it is happening again. Why do I feel…so…lighthea-” Right after Xander regains control he drops the dagger and faints onto the floor. “Wha-Wha-what was that?” Draco asked, still shaking in fear. 

Jaden-Drake sighed as he fully looked at the shaking creature. “It’s something that we didn’t want you to know...and by we I mean them and I.” Drake sighed as he shook his head. It was something they hoped wouldn’t come to this. “Them? What… What do you mean by that?” The black-eye bearded dragon asked the calm teenager as he picked up his friend and led him to the couch. Xander was starting to fall asleep as soon as he hit the couch. “I…will expla-” He started to snore right after saying that.

Jaden sighed as he grabbed the little creature and went to his room. “So… What happened out there?” The dragon asked again as Drake set him down on his desk and he sat on his bed. “ Listen, we, well Xander, really didn’t want you to find out this way. We were waiting for the right to at least talk about it with you…” Drake bit his lip trying to find a way to describe what the lizard just saw. “What... What you just witnessed...was one out of three different...personalities that Xander has..” Drake signed out. 

Darco looked at the human with his head tilted. “Three personalities...like one of the personality disorties that you were explaining to me?” He asked Drake as he sighed. “Not really. Xander hates this side of himself. He is going to have to explain to you when he wakes up. I can’t really-” He was cut off by his phone ringing. “Who’s calling me at this hour?” The green-haired teen grabbed his phone. He checked the caller ID to find that his grandmother was calling him.

Drake's eyes widened and he cursed under his breath. “Damn it, why now?” He asked with a sigh. “Look, we’ll talk about this later. I have to take this call.” The green-haired boy looked at Draco, who was still sitting on the counter. He is then moved by Drake and placed on his desk while he hits the answer button. “Hello?” “Jaden, Jaden, this is grammy.” His grandmother states through the phone receiver. “I know grandma. I have you on my caller ID.” 

This isn’t the first time Drake’s Grandma had told him that it was her and it wouldn’t be that last. “Well, how should I know that. Anyways, how are you and Xander holding up in Japan?” His grandma asks him. “Good, good. The school work here is hard, but hey I’m getting the hang of it.” He tells her with a small smile.  _ Here it comes. _ He sighed out. “How are you doing in math?”  _ There it is.  _ “Drake?” “Yeah, I’m still not good at math. I mean, I’m not failing but I’m not getting the best grade either.” 

“Really, Drake why aren’t you great at it. Your father is a mathematician, why can’t you be?” His grandma tells him. Drake just stayed silent with a sigh. “Hello, Drake, are you still there?” “Yeah, grandma I am. Look, I will get help for math. I know a few people that can help me. Changing the subject though, I have a friend that is into art as well as I am and is really giving me inspiration that I need to continue wanting to take art as a career. I am really happy about that.” He explained with a grin on his face.

Drake’s smile fell as soon as he heard what he’s been hearing from her for months “Oh, that’s nice to hear but shouldn’t you choose a different career path. I know that you want to but I believe you should go this root.” His grandma explained. He bit his lip as he tried to think of a response. “I’m sorry, but I want to be an artist and this is the path that I want to take.” He sighed out as he tried to hold his tongue back from snapping at her.  _ I’m not dad. Stop comparing his past with my present. _ He thought “I know but listen, I don’t feel like you're going to get anywhere if you-” She was cut by her grandchild sighing out. “I’ll talk to you later grandma. I have to get some sleep because the school has an assembly tomorrow and I need to get up early for that.” 

Drake could tell his grandmother was surprised at this news. “Really, weren’t you supposed to start summer break tomorrow?” The eldrly woman asked him. “I do, it's just that we have an assembly explaining to the students not to be stupid ‘cause of what’s going on in Tokyo right now.” He sighed out. “Well alright. I will speak with you later, bye sweetheart. I love you.” “Yeah, love you too, bye.” He hangs up and groans. 

He puts his hands on his face and falls to the bed. “Goddamn it.” Drake sighed out. He stays like that for a few minutes then gets up and grabs his motorcycle helmet, jacket, and keys. Then, heads out the door without a word to anyone. The green-haired teen goes down to the parking lot to his motorcycle. 

Drake starts the motorcycle up and speeds out of the parking lot and into the quiet city streets. He was going to drive through the city to clear out his thoughts. Having done this time and time again he rides through parts of the city that seem lively during the day but are so quiet during this time. He doesn’t know where he is heading, all he knows is that he needs his head cleared. 

He stopped at a place where parts of the city could be seen from far away. He proceeds to take his helmet off, watching the city. “The city always looked so beautiful from this view, huh?” He smiled not expecting any answers. “This isn’t really you get to see.” “It sure is. Now speaking of sights that are rarely seen, what are you doing here Jaden-Drake?” A voice of an adult male said right behind Drake.

Jaden turned around, about to throw a shuriken when he saw who was talking. “Whew, you scared me, mate.” He sighed out as he turned to the male that was right behind him. “Please don’t do that because I can hurt and or kill you easily like that and I don't want that.” He chuckled. “Yeah, wouldn’t be a good thing, huh.”

*Time skip: 7/25: Early Morning*

“Man, I wish we didn’t have to go to this dumb assembly.” Draco hissed out as he stuck his head out of Drake’s bag. “Well, it’s cause of the stupid school wanting to scare us into following its rules. Like usual.” Drake stated as Xander and him followed the other students. “They just want to make sure that the students don’t say anything dumb to the press due to the whole Kamoshida and Kaneshiro incidents.” Xander said as they moved a head. 

“That too, but still it’s not like the press would want to ask some of the students. It’s not like we have any relation towards the Kaneshiro one.” Drake stated. “Anyways, are...are we not going to talk about what happened last night?” Draco asks the two teens. Drake bit his lip and looked at Xander. Xander rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Tis, not the time for that. Too many people could be listening.” Xander explained.

Drake nodded in agreement. “Hmm, I agree. When you're in our line of work you don’t know who you can trust outside of your group. That’s a fact that is true.” The green-haired teen started looking around. He goes into a whisper where only Xander and Draco can hear. “Trust me when I say you don’t know when an enemy is hiding in the shadows.”

Draco rolled his eyes at Jaden-Drake as he made his statement. “Well can  _ you _ at least tell me where you ran off to last night?” The bearded dragon asked. Drake sighed and bit his lip. “There is a time and a place for everything now is not the time.” Xander stated. Draco huffed and nodded as they entered the school to hear murmurs of students compiling. 

*Time skip: Daytime*

After the assembly, the Phantom Thieves sat around Akira’s room eating lunch. “Man, that assembly had me bored to tears.” Ryuji stated. “I basically fell asleep through the whole thing.” Drake sighed out as he put his head down on the chair. “Huh? Did you have school too, Yusuke?” Ann asked him. “I’m doing laundry, so these are the only clothes I had to wear.” Yusuke explains. “I can relate.” Drake said, raising his hand. “You really should buy a couple more outfits…” The blond female stated to Yusuke.

“Come now, we didn’t gather here to make small talk, now did we?” Makoto asked the three of them. “Let’s get to Alibaba’s case.” “Well then, I’ll start. It looks like Futaba was listening in to Leblanc.” Morgana stated. “But, why would she want to listen in on the cafe?” Ann asked. “I have no idea.” The feline stated. “It’s just like Boss said… She’s a tough nut to crack.” Ryuji said. “In any case, her hacking skills will be absolutely necessary if we wish to stand up to Medjed.” Makoto stated. 

“Going by what she has told us, we may even be able to identify who they are.” Makoto continued. “We’ll have to trust in her skills for now, then.” Yusuke said looking at the table. “Anyway, we found out that Futaba has a Palace… but someone who isn’t evil have one?” Ann asks. “That does not matter. A Palace is the materialization of distorted cognitions brought about by strong desires… That’s all.” Morgana stated. “It just so happens that a lot of warped people turn out evil.” 

Makoto closed her eyes out of worry. “She’s so young though… The pain she’s gone through must be the cause of her distortion.” She stated. “Maybe that has something to do with why she calls herself Alibaba.” The blond female stated. “According to the chief’s story, Futaba has auditory and visual hallucinations, right?” The feline started up. “There’s a chance those are related to some important memories she’s holding. It’s hard to explain… but those memories may have been warped by the distortions.” Morgana tried his best to explain with what he could.

“Basically we just gotta steal her Treasure, right?” Ryuji stated. “Well, yeah.” Morgana stated. “So do we all agree about taking on Futaba’s Palace?” Ann asked. “She asked us to do so. I don’t think that part is an issue.” Makoto began. “If we heal Futaba’s heart, it will not only help Boss, but she can then assist us with Medjed.” She stated. “I agree.” Yusuke said. Xander and Drake nodded in agreement. “Likewise, mate.” Drake said. 

“I’ve been wonderin’ about how Boss said ‘a lot happened’ after Futaba’s mom died too.” The yellowish blond male stated. “Hold on a second. Our investigation of her Palace may not go like anything we’ve done up to this point.” Morgana explained. “Why’s that?” Ryuji asked the feline. “Having an individual ask you to steal their heart is an extremely irregular case.” The feline started. 

“There’s no telling what the Palace ruler’s disposition will be like, or the distortion that’ll be there. We may run into some unforeseen situations. Do you still want to go in?” Morgana questioned all of them. “Yeah, let’s do it.” Akira said to him. Drake nodded in agreement. “I agree. I don’t believe we really have anything to lose for.” The green-haired male said. “All right. Let’s just make sure we’re cautious.” Morgana told the group. “Well, let’s get crackin’ on those keywords, huh?” Ryuji said. 

Makoto pushed her hair back and looked around the group. “The ones we have at the moment are ‘Futaba Sakura’ and ‘Sojiro Sakura’s house’” She explained. “We got the ‘who’ and the ‘where’ so all that’s left is the ‘what,’ right?” Ryuji asked them. “That would be correct.” Drake shrugged. “Let us try going to their house first.” Yusuke stated. “Boss is busy running the cafe, isn’t he? We should make sure he doesn’t suspect anything.” Ann told them. 

The rest of the group gets up and heads for the stairs. While Akira and Morgana stay behind a bit to talk. Drake just looks at the two then heads down with the rest. “Speaking of important memories. Do the two of you think I’ll everything back if...if I was like you guys?” Draco asks. “You know besides being human. Being confident, strong, and not afraid of taking a risk?”

Drake and Xander looked at each other then back at the bearded dragon. “We have to just wait to see.” The tan teen tells Draco. “I’m going to have to agree with Xander. We really don’t know what the future holds, for right now we just have to sit and wait.” The green-haired teen explains. Draco just nods at the two's reasoning. “Anyways, hey Xander, how do you feel finally meeting your online friend in real life?” The dragon asked. “It will be fun.” Xander smirks as Drake just chuckled.

The Phantom Thieves made it to Sojiro’s house. Ready to go into the young Futaba’s Palace. “Now, the last keyword…” Makoto muttered. “She’s a shut-in, so we just gotta figure out ‘what’ she thinks her house is. If she can’t get out, maybe a prison?” Ryuji asks. The nav stated it wasn't correct. “Perhaps a labyrinth with an unknown exit?” The dark brunette suggested. Again the nav stated that the answer was not correct. “Hmm… Maybe an oasis?” Ann pondered. The nav stated that it wasn’t the right one either. 

“Nothing so far. In that case, how about hell?” Yusuke asks. Drake looked over at the slender man. “Dude.” He states. Akira shakes his head as the nav states permission is denied. “We don’t have nearly enough clues…” Ann sighed out. “If only we could ask her directly…” Yusuke stated. “We can. C’mon, let’s go see Futaba.” Ryuji declared. “But what will we say to get in?” Makoto asked. 

“Whaddya mean? We’re sneakin’ in.” Ryuji said. Which causes Jaden to smirk. “I like your style.” He tells Ryuji as he wraps his arm over Ryuji’s shoulder. The blond male chuckles at the shorter males action. Xander just shakes his head. While Akira side glares Ryuji. “You both have to be joking.” Makoto stared at them in disbelief. “Won’t the door be locked for sure this time?” She asked. “I’ll take care of that. Oh, and I figured out where Futaba’s room was when I snuck in last night.” Morgana said. 

Makoto looks up at the feline. “What if we run into Boss, thought? There’s no way we’ll be able to avoid his questions.” Makoto explains. “He’s at work now, so I think we should be fine.” Ann explained. “Gettin’ cold feet, Makoto? Don’t worry, it’ll be nothing. We’ve gone through loads of shits like this already.” Ryuji tells her. “Yeah, just remember I’ve done this stuff before loads of time. It gets easier the more you do it.” Drake explained. “Ditto.” Xander said. 

Makoto looked around the whole group then closed her eyes and brought her hand up to her chin. “...This is our only choice, right? I suppose Futaba did get in contact with Akira-kun… Perhaps she’ll at least be willing to speak with him…” She said. “...Very well. Let’s do this.” The brunette sighs out. Everyone nodded in agreement. They all walked inside Sojiro’s house and followed Morgana to Futaba’s room.

The group stood in front of a door that had a sign and caution tape around her door. “This is Futaba’s room.” Morgana told them. “Futaba-chan? You’re in there, right?” Makoto stated as she knocked on the door. “There’s no answer…” The blue-eyed feline states. “Futaba-chan. Are you there? I’m sorry for being startled and screaming yesterday. It was so dark that O got scared.” The brunette tells Futaba through the door. 

“No reaction whatsoever.” Yusuke states. “I mean can you blame her this is most likely the first time in at least a few years she heard other people’s voices besides her caretaker.” Drake explained while looking straight at the door. “This is gonna be hard…” Ryuji sighed out. “You're listening, right, Alibaba?” Makoto tries to reach out for the fourth time. Right after that knock, Akira gets a text on his phone. “Is it Alibaba?” Makoto asks Akira while he pulls out his phone. 

After Akire checks the message on his phone, Makoto turns to the door. “You’re Futaba Sakura, aren’t you?” She asks again. “She’s not responding again.” Yusuke says. “Does she not like us saying her name?” Ann asks. “We don’t have time to dally around. We need her keyword before dealing with Alibaba’s identity.” Morgana snapped. “We want to learn more about you. If we don’t do so, we can’t steal your heart. The reason why we came here is because we need the keyword to enter your Palace. That’s why we want to talk with Futaba Sakura herself, and not Alibaba.” Makoto explains to Futaba.

Drake lets out a sigh. “She’s right, chickareta. We really do want to help you out here.” He tells her. “You don’t have to show yourself. Just answer some questions for us. Chat messages are fine.” Makoto adds on. 

Futaba/Alibaba: Ok

“All right then… Our leader, the guy who lives in Leblanc’s attic, wants to speak with you. We’re counting on you, Akira-kun. Try and get a keyword out of her.” Makoto tells Akira. 

Futaba/Alibaba: What do you want to hear?

Akira: How's living in this house?

Futaba/Alibaba: It’s painful…

Akira: Why not go out?

Futaba/Alibaba: I can’t leave this place

Futaba/Alibaba: I’m going to die here.

“Wha… Die?” Ann asks

Futaba/Alibaba: Is this going to continue? 

Akira: Die?

Futaba/Alibaba: That’s right. I’m definitely going to die here.

Futaba/Alibaba: This place is my tomb.

“Tomb?” Makoto asks. “You think that’s it?” Ryuji asks. “Try entering ‘tomb.’” Morgana tells Akira. “Input accepted. Searching for route to destination.” The Navigation voice stated. “We got it…!” Morgana smiled. “Yay.” Draco cheered.

Futaba/Alibaba: Was that enough?

“Yes. It was plenty. You haven’t forgotten your promise of helping us if we complete your request, right?” Makoto asks Futaba.

To be continued... 

Words:  22734


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